A Slice of Fried Gold

Favorite Albums of 2011

2012-01-04T12:12:00.000-09:00

The last part of my favorites lists of 2011 is my favorite albums of 2011. I'm doing things a little bit differently than usual, as I'm typically pretty methodical in breaking down a top 20. Because of my trip, I fell way behind on music, and for those who are obsessed with music it becomes pretty obvious that staying on top of what's new and what's good is a full time job in a lot of ways. With the trip and a job search going back-to-back, my music obsession waned and I became more of a casual fan.

Plus, 2011 really was the year of Spotify for me. I pretty much only listen to music on there at this point, and with my driving time now more focused on podcasts, there's just less time for new music.

That said, it seems like 2011 was a pretty solid year for music. My list is after the jump and in in more of a general order, favorite to least favorite, and proves that I favor old favorites to the new hotness those kids these days are listening to.

Beirut - The Rip Tide

Homer pick! Homer pick!

Yeah, it's true, Beirut is part of my holy trinity of favorite artists (which also includes Sigur Ros and Spoon), meaning that they earn a little favoritism from yours truly. But that only gets you so far (Spoon's last album didn't even make my top 20 last year). Zach Condon took me the rest of the way, as I truly love every track on The Rip Tide. As soon as I picked up this album, I must have listened to it twenty times in a row, becoming completely obsessed with the pop amazingness that Condon had created here.

The biggest bummer of it is that it is only nine tracks long, but I'd rather have nine tracks I love any day over twenty plus that I like. Beirut just makes music that I love. That is a fact.

Standout Track: East Harlem

Washed Out - Within and Without

This was the first album I started listening to after I got back, as I hopped on Spotify and became basically hypnotized by every track on this album. It's an amazing, hypnotic and constantly changing album that finds a base in its very core with some deeply set pop sensibilities (they are there, I swear).

Every year, one album comes out that I find to pair with almost anything, and it quickly becomes a favorite. Washed Out is the winner this year, in that "Within and Without" is brilliant for anything from a nice fall drive, exercising, reading, writing...you name it. This is 2011's winner of my "Soundtrack of my Life" award, and that is one hell of a claim for a band that I'd truly never heard of before late July.

Standout Track: It's hard to choose, but either "Eyes Be Closed" or "Far Away"

Aeroplane - In-Flight Entertainment

The guy who hired me on to ADN kills me. We were talking on gchat one day and he basically ruined the last month of my year by telling me to listen to Aeroplane. Sure enough, I did, and it's basically been the only thing I've listened to since. Sure, it's not technically an album by one artist, as it is producer Aeroplane putting together a mix of new, lesser known tracks, in a seamless fashion, but man, this is pretty much amazing.

For something that is a slew of artists thrown into a mix, it is incredible how well everything fits together. It's like they were all originally crafted by one voice and then distributed to a range of musicians who all provided their own spin to them, and it makes this 61 minutes and 33 seconds of musical awesomeness. The blend of styles and genres is intoxicating, and about as much fun I've had all year listening to music.

Standout Track: Well, it's a huge mix, but if you want to pick one track, I'd go with Herr Styler's "Zero Ghosts Out the Door"

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

I love St. Vincent. In fact, one of the biggest bummers of my world trip was the fact that St. Vincent came to perform here while I was gone. Really. St. Vincent came to Alaska for the one five-month stretch that I was out of the country. How weird is that?

I've loved all of St. Vincent's work so far, and Strange Mercy is arguably on par with 2009's Actor as my favorite album she's put together to date. It's a diverse, beautiful and strangely aggressive album that gets under your skin in the way the best music does. St. Vincent is stellar at producing music that is lush in its darkness, sharing the beauty she finds in the underbelly of life.

For me, the one thing that this album lacks perhaps is a single track that really kills me like Actor's "Black Rainbow" did. Still, that could just be because the whole damn thing is so great, and it's hard to find something wrong with that.

Standout Track: Cruel

Childish Gambino - Camp

This album surprised me maybe more than anything this year, in that it's an actor-turned-rapper who is, frankly, pretty damn incredible. Donald Glover (aka Troy on Community), is predictably clever, nerdy and funny on this album (he was a writer for 30 Rock after all), as he drops surprising lines that reference anything from Human Centipede to Fantastic Four villain Annihilus.

What was surprising about it though is how damn emotionally honest it is. Glover confesses everything about his life in a way that feels like the musical equivalent of a really good autobiography, walking people through what it's like to live his life. Sure, the guy is a celebrity, but that doesn't mean when he speaks honestly his life will be any less turbulent than yours or mine. Confessing things like he does in album closer "That Power" makes him all the more amusing and real.

I also want to give him credit for having an outrageously versatile voice. The guy can sing, his rapping sounds like anything from himself to Kanye to Lil' Wayne, and his range makes all of his songs work all the better. The production is incredible as well, and the beats and layered samples never distract, only enhance.

If you like hip hop, I'd highly recommend this. One note though: it absolutely sucks to write to. I find it impossible to not pay attention to the lyrics.

Standout Track: Outside

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Everyone has a different favorite M83 album (and by everyone, I mean people who actually listen to M83), and it seems that this is the year that most agreed "holy crap, this is the one we're all going to love."

And it's with good reason. This album is really a double album filled with standout tracks, and it really is M83's most epic effort yet. It's a sprawling, constantly inventive record that touches on a lot of things that he has figured out that he has done really well throughout the years.

Oddly enough though, every time an M83 album comes out I find myself really liking it but never quite loving it. This record for me falls short in that it feels maybe a little less personal then his previous ones, as songs like "Graveyard Girl" in the past really draws you into the storyteller underneath the beautiful noise. For me, the only track that does that on par with his previous efforts is "Raconte-Moi Une Histoire," an adorable and unforgettable track that stands out just for being so different than everything else on here.

That said, this is a really beautiful album, and I think it's something I may come to appreciate more over time. As it stands now, it's a very good album, with potential to become a great one in my mind.

Standout Track: Raconte-Moi Une Histoire

The Roots - Undun

This was a late add to my list, but man, this is an absolute fantastic album. I mean, sure, it gets bonus points from me because it features and is influenced by Sufjan Stevens. But still, for fans of well crafted hip hop, brilliant musicianship and concept albums, this deal should be catnip.

While it features guest performers like Big K.R.I.T., Stevens, Aaron Livingston (who kills it on "Sleep", and others, this really is all about The Roots. This doesn't really feel like any of their albums, or really, any other hip hop albums in recent memory. It's very soulful, stressing their storytelling and providing a sonic background that emphasizes the mood and words all the more. Every member of the group is on point from track one, but their third interpretation of Sufjan's "Redford," titled "Will to Power," is ?uestlove and avant-garde pianist D.D. Jackson reinterpreting it in a new, unexpected way. It needs to be heard to be believed.

Standout Track: Make My

The Antlers - Burst Apart

It seems like a decent amount of bands on this list benefit from myself catching them live during this year, and The Antlers are one of those bands. They came up to Anchorage this year and greatly impressed me as an incredibly tight and expressive live band, beautifully portraying the tracks from last year's record Hospice and this year's Burst Apart. The latter is a lot lighter than Hospice, but most funerals have happier playlists than that album.

A lot of the tracks, like lead tracks I Don't Want Love and French Exit, could even be called "playful" if only for The Antlers, with ambling rhythms and soulfully harmonized near falsetto vocals highlighting the sonic peaks and emotional valleys of those tracks. This album has all of the emotional vibrancy of Hospice, but is more my style than that album simply because it goes a lot lighter in the gloom department. If you get a chance though, do catch these guys live. Phenomenal live performers.

Standout Track: I Don't Want Love

Wilco - The Whole Love

Historically, I like not love Wilco. They make some really great music that for the most part (things like "A Shot in the Arm" or "Either Way"), but it also just isn't really my style.

That said, with this album Wilco took a chance and did something a little different. They fuzzed up their music, added some electronic pizzaz to it and for me, it ended up coming out as my favorite album they've released yet. The emotional content or strong songwriting that so many love from this band isn't gone, it just comes in a partially altered form, but as something that is still entirely recognizable as Wilco.

And for those who prefer the classic stylings of the band, the closing track, One Sunday Morning, is a twelve minute stunner that immediately became one of my favorite songs they've ever released. Just a phenomenal track, and maybe my favorite song of the year from anyone.

Standout Track: One Sunday Morning

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - It's a Corporate World

Every year, there has to be a quirky random album in the mix, and this year it comes from the hilariously named Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (which makes me happy because it reminds me of Everything is Illuminated). The record highlights this duo's exceptional ability at crafting poppy, fun tracks that highlight their stellar harmonized lyrics and driving rhythms. This isn't something that is likely as "good" as many of the albums that precede or follow it on this list, but man, this album is a whole lot of fun and has a ton of soul at the same time. It's like musical sunshine, and who doesn't need a little more of that?

Standout Track: Simple Girl

James Blake - James Blake

True story: I could not stand James Blake when I first heard him. He came out with an EP called CMYK in 2010 and I couldn't help but be bored to tears by it.

Then, when I was in Barcelona at the Primavera Sound music festival, I couldn't help but go see him perform. I don't remember if I felt compelled to do so or if there was just a hole in my schedule, but either way, I went. And man, while his music is pretty heavy on the electronic and the auto tune, this guy can really make his music magic live.

Granted, this album came out while I was gone, so he had other material to work with, but the amount of heart and soul he put into every song made me want to close my eyes and get swallowed up by the slow jams he created. It helped a lot that he had a drummer that looked exactly like Harry Potter (note to bands: want me to like you? Dress like Harry Potter), but it was really the music that did it for me.

Then I picked up his self-titled debut full length album and man, this is some powerful, soulful stuff. Very few artists can make something like "I Never Learnt to Share," with its minimalist lyrics and layered auto tune vocals stacking on top of each other, work, but Blake turned it into a jam that is effortlessly powerful. That's kind of the deal with this record. For a heavily electronic record, it's really stripped down and focuses on the soul of his words, voice and music. As a producer, it was a brilliant idea for Blake to do that, as it highlights his strengths as a songwriter and musician all the better.

Standout Track: Unluck

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

When I was going to see Sufjan Stevens in London, I was sitting in my seat before the show when I started chatting with the middle-aged guy who was wearing a dapper suit and generally seemed like a pretty gregarious chap. Very British, of course, as we were in London. No less, we started talking about music when we got onto Sufjan's "Age of Adz" album. We talked about how some people weren't really into it, but, as we were at a Sufjan show that was mostly "Age of Adz," we both clearly liked it. Then this conversation happened.

British guy: "To me, it's Sufjan's 'Kid A.'"

Me: "Oh yeah? Why do you say that?"

British guy: "When 'Kid A' came out, everyone was down on it because it wasn't 'OK Computer.' But as time passed, people started to realize what it really was, which was simply a great album. Now it's one of the best albums of the past decade."

Me: "I could see that."

British guy: "Have you listened to 'The King of Limbs'?"

Me: "A little bit. I streamed it a few times right before I left. I thought it was really good."

British guy: "I love it. Honestly, not that many do, but as time passes, I think people will learn to love it like they do 'Kid A.'"

Now, I'm not sure The King of Limbs will ever approach the levels of Kid A. But I can say this: I've seen it on almost no end of the year lists that I've read, and I find that crazy. It's Radiohead doing Radiohead things, expanding on their sound while focusing on certain aspects that they do well. It's more ambient and a little less pop driven than many of their efforts, but it's a great album that excels as headphone music for when you need to be productive. That's a valuable asset to have in my music rotation.

Standout Track: Bloom, but really, this is a full album experience

The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

This is an odd album in a lot of ways for me, because it's obviously a new album but it feels like a fuzzy throwback to musicians of yesteryear. To be honest, it feels like there are influences of people ranging from Bob Dylan to Tom Petty to Mark Knopfler in here, but without any one of them winning out to create a pastiche when this band is very capable of creating their own sound.

The interesting about this album is that it is soulful and feels sad in some ways, yet while listening to it, I find it hard not to just feel good. It's anthemic at times but also feels really thoughtful, taking time to hit emotional notes that will resonate with the listener. Interestingly enough, it's mood music for me at the same time. Sometimes I really, really enjoy it, and other times I'd much rather listening to anything else I can get my hands on.

Standout Track: Come to the City

Favorite TV Shows of 2011

2012-01-03T16:10:00.000-09:00

Treat yo self to my list

Today's 2011 in Review list is going to be...my favorite TV shows of 2011!

Now, to be honest, being gone half of the year made it pretty easy to fall behind on a lot of TV shows. That said, I did my best to catch up on the ones I used to love and there were some I honestly couldn't miss no matter what I did. Regardless, because of missing so many, this will only be a top five list.

But what a top five! I love all five of them, with one of them having a new season coming on my birthday and the top pick having a theme song that currently is my ringtone. Yeah! Find out my picks after the jump.

5. Justified

Justified makes the list because its second season was one of the best acted shows on television. True story. I mean, at your base you have the amazing Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, giving TV its best Western hero with an awesome blend of vigilante tendencies and a fierce moral compass. But then you have a list of character actors who managed to overshadow him, like the incredible Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder, Nick Searcy as Raylan's boss art, Jeremy Davies as the cruel, conniving Dickie Bennett, and the Emmy winning Margo Martindale as the truly evil Mags Bennett. Every episode was packed with fantastic performances, and I can't wait to see what the new season brings...and it's coming on my birthday!

4. Community

I have no idea how every person on the planet does not know this show (and I know some who do not). With an incredible ensemble cast that brings something a little bit different to the show (they're like a well crafted basketball team, and everyone of them knows Bill Simmons' secret of what makes a team work), one of the best romances on television (Troy and Abed...pure magic), and a bevy of bizarre and amazing recurring characters (POP POP!), this show's cup runneth over with awesome and imagination. I mean, this show had a two episode arc about a paintball fight, the world's most explainable zombie outbreak, and an episode that basically mirrored My Dinner with Andre. It's outrageous, but it's also infectious, funny and entirely charming.

3. Boardwalk Empire

Some think this show is too cold to ever be great, but I think they must have missed the second season. With two phenomenal co-leads in Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt as gangsters done in the best way (you can't be half a gangster, as season two proved), you know this show is going to be steady and well acted. But the production value of it makes it hard for me to not keep typing "movie" when I mean to say show. HBO and the team of Boardwalk Empire have made something that blurs the edges between TV drama and film drama, with stellar scores, cinematography, casting and scripting throughout the whole production. It may not be my favorite show, but it's hard to argue that it couldn't be considered the best.

2. Homeland

The Walking Dead had very unfortunate circumstances for its second season. I always would watch The Walking Dead first and then Homeland, and because they were both high end cable dramas on Sunday, I would unfailingly compare the two. While that might not be fair to the former, that's only because Homeland was so spectacular. With a tense, driving first season that was highlighted by lead performances from Claire Danes and Damian Lewis that, in my opinion, should win the Emmy's for their respective categories, this show was the best freshman show and a testament to how Showtime sometimes is every bit as good as HBO. The first season ended in spectacular fashion, with what the second season will look like completely up in the air. I'll be watching, and please god, don't tell me I will have to wait a long time for it.

1. Parks and Recreation

This is far and away my favorite show on television. The funniest show out there, the one with the most heart, the one with the best characters, everything. I adore every aspect of this show as well as every character that is featured in it. I never know what direction an episode will go, but I know that at any given moment it could make me laugh harder than anything else or be more emotionally resonant than anything else as well. It's the best kind of comedy, because it also excels at the drama and reality of life. A lot of people compare it to The Office, but it approaches its characters as real people, not caricatures. Sure, some are ridiculous at times (namely, Andy and Chris), but always in truly endearing, real ways. It's so far past The Office in quality it is like the two shows aren't even in the same realm any more.

Bonus points to Parks and Rec though for having the best character on television as well: Ron Swanson is the man. He's one of my all-time favorite characters in anything, and nearly everything he does makes me laugh to a degree that I previously thought TV was incapable of doing. Bravura work by Nick Offerman, and good god people, get this guy an Emmy already!

Favorite Movies of 2011

2012-01-02T12:00:00.000-09:00

To start off my favorite of everything in 2011, I'm going to lead off with my favorite movies of 2011. Now, just to be clear, this isn't the best movies of 2011. Sure, you could make an argument that Lars Von Trier's Melancholia was a significantly "better" film than anything on my list, but man, I just didn't enjoy it (mostly because Kirsten Dunst's spectacular performance was tied to a character who was utterly reprehensible in every way someone can be reprehensible).

So this isn't about best, it's just about the movies that I look back on as the ones that I enjoyed the most for base level enjoyment mixed with overall quality.

But that's enough of that. On to the list, of which the keyword is "nostalgia," which you can find after the jump.

Note: I still haven't seen a few movies that could easily make this list, so my apologies to War Horse (saw the play - amazing! - and seeing the movie today), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Tree of Life, The Artist, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and a range of other assuredly great movies.

Second Note: I FORGOT TROLL HUNTER! Troll Hunter is amazing! Must watch!

Runners Up
- Drive (mostly for the amazing soundtrack and general vibe)
- 50/50 (mostly for JGL and personal connection)
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes (this movie was surprisingly fantastic)
- Contagion (superstar cast, Soderbergh, scary, just a little on the cold side)
- Warrior (superb performances from the three leads make this better than just an MMA Rocky)
- Cedar Rapids (very funny with a lot of heart thrown in)

10. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

This movie was forever in limbo and made, under my estimation, $15. Pretty much no one saw it, which is a shame because man, this movie was amusing as all hell. Was it an Oscar style film in any way shape or form? No way. But good god, this was maybe the best time I had watching a movie in 2011.

With two fantastic leads in the always underrated Alan Tudyk (Firefly) and Tyler Labine (Reaper), this movie reversed the traditional ideas of 80's slasher flicks with an incredible amount of heart and humor thrown in there too. It might not have the longest legs of anything you'll see in 2011, but it's an absolute blast of a movie.

9. Margin Call

This movie comes from a first time writer/director named JC Chandor and is filled with incredible actors like Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, and a range of others. What carries this movie for me was a particularly strong performance from the cerebral Zachary Quinto (who generally had a good year, between this and American Horror Story) and a focused, smart script that was paced incredibly well by Chandor.

For some (namely a certain good friend of mine), this movie is a snorefest. But for yours truly, I found it to be a truly gripping office thriller that paints a scary and realistic picture of the current economic crisis at its roots. A fascinating film, and one that came out of nowhere to be that.

8. The Descendants

Generally speaking, I'm not crazy about Alexander Payne's films. I know that's extremely not cool to say so, but it's the truth. I enjoyed Election, found About Schmidt to be darkly funny, and generally found Sideways to be painfully overrated, but The Descendants was irrefutably great in my mind. For me, the reason why was the infusion of significant heart into his formula, as the story of George Clooney's Matt King and his family was one any dysfunctional family can relate to, as can the themes of heartbreak and loss. Granted, this effort was definitely bolstered by superb performances from Clooney and his kids, played by Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller.

It was a very, very good movie, and one that definitely deserves the significant awards attention it has received to date.

7. Source Code

I was out of the country when this movie came out, but I can say I was surprised that it didn't earn a lot more love. It was the type of smart science-fiction that I eat up, which is unsurprising given that it comes from Duncan Jones (Moon). While the plot in itself is pretty inexplicable if you look at it closely at all (so this machine lets you inhabit someone else's body for eight minutes at a time, but in another timeline and at one exact starting point?), that's cool with me because what sci-fi isn't really?

The execution on the other hand is pretty genius, combining multiple levels of time travel theory with a driving thriller of a plot, crafted well by the hands of the very able Jones and highlighted by strong performances from the underrated Jake Gyllenhaal (I'm comfortable in saying that because many still regard him as just a pretty face), the outrageously charming Michelle Monaghan, and the stunning and talented Vera Farmiga. In a year that was a little light in quality sci-fi, this was a joy for me as a viewer.

6. Moneyball

I read Moneyball when it first came out, and for a person who is a big fan of statistics and baseball, it was a fascinating and occasionally arduous read (it was thin, but it still was kind of boring in parts). True story.

I actually enjoyed the film version of it far more, as director Bennett Miller and writers Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian managed to turn a book about sabermetrics and Billy Beane being a forward thinker into something that had a ton of heart and charm to its name. Honestly, watching Brad Pitt (as Beane) and Jonah Hill (as Paul DePodesta...I mean, Peter Brand) attempt to trade for Rincardo Rincon (an apple of Beane's eye for most of the movie) was one of the most enjoyable scenes of the entire year. Sure, it was all pretty whiz-bang, only in the movies type storytelling that was sort of revisionist in the way it handled everything, but damn, I absolutely had a smile on my face when I left the theater.

And to those that say it was too The Social Network like for its own good, I say to you this: what movie hasn't been directly influenced by something that preceded it? And wasn't The Social Network a great movie? For a project that had been stymied by a ton of creative changes throughout the years, seeing something like The Social Network likely helped conceive the narrative structure to make this what it was. It was a great movie on its own, regardless of similarities to Fincher's Facebook film.

5. Win Win

Writer-director Thomas McCarthy makes movies that I love. That's a fact. I loved The Station Agent to a perhaps unhealthy degree (for those that were all gaga for Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones, please watch The Station Agent) and The Visitor was another splendid movie that highlighted another range of talented character actors.

With Win Win though, he told another great small-town America tale, one with significant ethical questions, family drama and humor from an extremely talented ensemble cast highlighted by Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Melanie Lynskey, talented newcomer Alex Shaffer, and the unparalleled awesomeness of McCarthy favorite Bobby Cannavale. This movie was seen by few and hyped up by even fewer, with only my long-time favorite movie writer Jeffrey Wells really championing it as something that should be an Oscar contender.

More people should see this, and if you haven't yet, I implore you to do so.

4. Crazy, Stupid, Love

I watched this movie three times in theaters, and it was pretty much because I was trying to get anyone who would listen to go see this movie. I've always said I'm a hopeless romantic, and my borderline obsession with this movie confirmed that as it was an unbelievably smart and funny example of how to successfully make a romantic comedy.

It was full of amusing, touching performances from people like my lady love Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, and a slew of others, but really, the best reason to watch this movie is Ryan Gosling. He had a huge year as an actor, making it rain in the superb Drive and the very solid Ides of March, but for my money Crazy, Stupid, Love was his best work of the year. While his character, a chiseled adonis with a lot of hidden depth, easily could have been a complete throwaway character. Instead, he made the character one of the biggest scene stealers of the year.

After I saw this movie with my Facebook wife Joanne, we discussed opening our fictional relationship up to allow Gosling into it. Of course we brought him in (in our minds, at least).

If you missed this movie, I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

3. Super 8

Fact: I saw The Goonies literally hundreds of times when I was a little kid. It was my favorite movie growing up, and there was something about that movie that is magical to me still to this day.

Fact: Super 8 is a spiritual descendant of The Goonies, as JJ Abrams crafted an Amblin joint for modern audiences. It combines a fierce love of film and life with an able cast of characters, with the kid leads of Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning standing tall amongst talented character actors like Kyle Chandler, Noah Emmerich and Ron Eldard. Plus, it's a thrilling science-fiction ride that made me leave the theater with an ear-to-ear smile on my face. What more would I want from a movie, really?

2. Hugo

I was completely overjoyed by this magical movie experience. Hugo in 3D is something completely unlike anything you'd ever expect to see from Martin Scorsese, but really just highlights how much the guy loves movies and life and everything in-between. This Paris based ode is a splendid adventure, with kid actors Asa Butterfield and the always charming Chloe Moretz carrying the lead as the duo who are trying to figure out how a little automaton ties into toymaker George Melies (a splendid Ben Kingsley).

The 3D blends perfectly into the stunning imagery Scorsese crafts, and the heart in this film practically leaps off the screen and into your arms as you watch it (literally when a certain key is involved). This is a prime Best Picture contender from what I understand, and I can say wholeheartedly that I am pulling for this to take the win (assuming my number one pick doesn't earn a nomination). A stunning work, and something that goes into my favorite Scoscese films immediately.

1. Midnight in Paris

I very rarely would use the word "magical" for a movie (well, besides for this movie and the other Paris set one that preceded it), but Midnight in Paris was one of the most joyous and magical times I had watching a movie this year. Woody Allen is not typically the type who would make things like this (in my mind, at least), but this smart, thoughtful and inspiring movie is something built for dreamers. Not just ones who yearn for the days of yesteryear, but for anything really. It's romantic, without really being overtly romantic in the relationship way. It's romantic for another time and place, and for me in the point of transition I'm in and having just returned from my world trip, it was an absolute joy to watch.

Plus, it gets major bonus points for being a tour of one of my favorite cities as well as giving us one of the most fantastic performances of the year (Corey Stoll made an absolutely phenomenal Hemingway).

The World Trip Wrap Up

2012-01-01T11:00:00.000-09:00

Partying in Edinburgh with a kilt, a tweed vest and a fantastic hat

Well, my life is finally starting to get figured out. After an immense time away from this blog and from real life, it's time to start this blog back up. I've got a new job starting up January 5th at Anchorage's Nerland Agency, so I figured it was about time to get reconnected with sharing every single little detail about my life with you even if you don't want to know them.

And I'll start with doing something I should have done a long time ago - wrapping up my world trip adventure by sharing my favorites of anything and everything I did. And it was a pretty good time. It turns out that dropping everything and adventuring for half a year is actually as fun as it seems like it should be. Shocking, right?

Look for more from me sooner rather than later, and click through the jump to see that wrap up. Also, if you're interested in anything from my trip in specific, please ask me!

Best Country: Japan

When I went traveling, it wasn't so I could basically experience the same life but in another country. I went to adventure! And adventure I did, but nowhere did that adventure feel more real than Japan. I'm not sure if it was the fact that almost no one spoke English, the sheer size and speed of everything, the completely different culture, the often impossible to figure out (but always delicious) food, or what, but Japan sated my needs to really get out there and try something new more than anywhere.

A lot of people were horrified that I was even going there because of the whole earthquake/tsunami deal, but in a lot of ways, that made the experience all the more memorable. Japanese people seem inherently kind and good natured, but with me being one of the sadly few tourists who was there in that time period, they seemed to respect me all the more. It's hard not to love people who love you back, and for those reasons and a million others, it was my favorite place.

Runners up: Thailand, Iceland

In Back to the Future's Delorean in Melbourne

Best City: Melbourne, Australia

My least favorite country features my favorite city. How weird is that?

Not that weird really, because Melbourne is freaking awesome.

Granted, I did get there during a perfect storm of fantastic (abnormally great weather for the season, Melbourne Comedy Festival, Supanova, general hysteria), but I can't imagine loving it any less for any reason. Melbourne is a place that is just straight up fun. I'd walk out the front of my hostel, hop on a train and go right and be on a beach with an amazing amusement park in five minutes or so. If I went left, I'd go to the city center and be in one of the most richly cultured cities I've ever been to, with stellar museums, delicious food and fun people at every turn.

It's a diverse and spectacular metropolis that still has a small town feel in a lot of ways. Here's how much I loved it: I was really, really sick for most of the time I was there, but my sheer elation (and coffee) kept me going throughout. That is saying something.

Runners up: Barcelona, Berlin, Edinburgh, Hiroshima

Best Food: Japan

You guys know Ramen? That stuff that poor college students eat when there is no other choice to be had really? That stuff is an art form in Japan. Cheap, spectacular, and hearty, for a traveler like myself it's an absolute godsend.

One time, I ordered some for about $7.50 and had a bowl that was roughly two pounds in weight, featuring copious ramen noodles in a miso soup based broth, filled with delicious veggies (leeks! bean sprouts!), high quality meats (chicken dumplings! braised pork!) and all kinds of other surprises (quail eggs!). It was one of the most epic and incredible foods I've ever eaten - AND THAT IS A LOW QUALITY FOOD IN JAPAN.

One of my favorite things about Japan's food though has to be the fact that I knew what I was eating roughly half the time. Getting Takoyaki (octopus dough balls) in Osaka, Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima (Japanese savory mega pancakes), god knows what the hell I was eating on a bullet train from Takayama to Tokyo and any number of other meals was an incredible highlight of my culinary experience. Plus, the sushi was pretty spectacular. Who would have seen that coming?

For people who fancy food, going to Japan should be like going to Graceland for Elvis fans. It's just something you have to do once in your life.

Runners up: Spain, Iceland

Sufjan Stevens

Best Concert: Sufjan Stevens at the Royal Festival Hall in London

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty lucky in terms of going to see concerts on my trip. I saw Arcade Fire with Mumford & Sons and Beirut in London, a whole music festival in Barcelona (highlighted by The Flaming Lips, James Blake, The Walkmen, Caribou, and any number of other performances), Cut Copy in Reykjavik, and assuredly a few others I cannot remember, the world has a lot of options for the music fan in me.

The best had to be Sufjan Stevens though. Stevens was playing at Primavera Sound in Barcelona (the music festival I went to), but I wasn't guaranteed to be able to see him there. Knowing that and that his two London dates were sold out, I took a chance and went to the Royal Festival Hall in London shortly before the first night of his two performances there in hopes of magicking a ticket out of thin air. As I waited in line, I thought of what I could say that wouldn't sound stupid. "Does this completely sold out concert have any extra tickets for me, a wayward Alaskan?" "Please sir, may this poor lost hipster have a ticket to your indie music concert?"

I bumbled my delivery, but the message came out understandable. "Actually, the guy right in front of you just returned two tickets. Want one?"

I almost wept. Magical words, those were.

One ticket, two performances, and much dancing later, I came out having experienced the only show I would pair up with The Flaming Lips in matching the sheer euphoria and joy they inspire.

Twelve minutes into Sufjan's 26 minute epic "Impossible Soul," the best thing I've ever seen at a concert happened. Everyone was sitting in this classy joint, enjoying the music and taking in the experience but hardly moving. Then, as a dancy part starts, out of nowhere this muscle bound guy off to my right shouts out "YEAH!" and gets up and starts dancing in his seat. Then, all hell broke loose. Three girls to my left danced. Then a few more. Next thing you know I was out of my seat rushing to the front with a few others to dance at the front of the stage. Glorious pandemonium ensued, as Sufjan sang to us and we sang back to him. "It's a good life, better pinch yourself. Is it impossible? Is it impossible?"

Not to be cheesy, but man, that night, everything felt truly possible. During the encore and his performance of "Chicago," balloons rained down on us. I grabbed one and took it home with me, sitting on a train for a 45 minute ride back to Virginia Water. People looked at me like I was crazy, except one person who happened to be holding a balloon too. We looked at each other and nodded, sharing in the revelry that was this incredible show.

Runners up: The Flaming Lips at Primavera Sound, Arcade Fire at Hyde Park

On Pegasus before my Vespa adventure began

Best 24 Hour Stretch: Wine Country, Baby!

Let's start at dinner time. It's June in Siena, Italy, a cute little city in Tuscany. I head to a restaurant that I'd read good things about in good ol' Rick Steves' guidebook on my iPad, so I headed that way to grab a bite and hopefully have a good time.

Viva Italia!

The dinner was marvelous, with me eating way too much and then enjoying some home crafted Amaretto that the restaurant is known for. From there, I started talking with the table next to me, a couple from Austin named Ben and Alyssa, and then the night opened up. I greatly enjoyed this duo, as the three of us consumed a good amount of Amaretto and laughed a ton and talked about music and travel (two of my favorite things). This led to us pretty much closing the restaurant down and then heading to the primary square of the city (Il Campo) to get more drinks at the bars that surround it. Of course, this led to more ridiculousness, as we met a slew of Italian university students and joined in on their fun with fire twirling and bongo drums.

In true random fashion, the night ended with all of us using what effectively was a stamp to put Italian flags all over our faces. So there we were, three Americans with a slew of Italian students, drinking booze and having faces covered with Italian flags. Not a bad night. Actually, a ridiculously amazing night.

Then, the next morning I woke up with a goal in mind: time to go live my dream and rent a Vespa to drive around wine country. And drive I did, as I picked up a Vespa and drove it all around the Chianti region of Tuscany for the whole day, sampling amazing food and wine while riding a scooter for the second time in my life. Did I look like a massive dork on this tiny motorbike? Assuredly. Was it a good time? Hell yes.

So in 24 hours, I had a slew of amazing meals, met a ton of awesome people, experienced wine country, and lived a dream. Pretty good day, if I do say so myself.

Runners up: Days One and Three of Primavera Sound, Day One in Thailand

I had a good time

Most fun ever: My first day at Thailand's Songkran Festival

What kid didn't enjoy water fights? I mean, you take buckets and fake guns and you fill them with water and then you blast the living hell out of each other. It's the most legal fun you can have shooting someone (pre zombie apocalypse, of course).

But then we grow up and water fights...well, they just don't work anymore really. We're adults, so we have to leave things like that behind, sadly.

Except in Thailand during the Songkran Festival.

The Songkran Festival is the Thai New Year and is also known as their Water Festival. It was started to highlight the spiritually cleansing powers of water, but it quickly became a day for anyone and everyone to hose down anyone who comes anywhere near you. And I don't mean this is just in one place (although Bangkok seemed to be a pretty good place to do that at), I mean everywhere in the country.

PANDEMONIUM!

I was in Chiang Mai for it, and they say it's the best place to do it because the layout of the city and because of the canals that form a square around it. I find it hard to disagree with that idea because when I first got to Chiang Mai and went out to get a taste of Songkran, I intended to go for just thirty minutes or so, but it ended up being three hours of water, beer, pandemonium and great times. Not only that, but I quickly developed a rep in the area as a bringer of awesomely hilarious carnage (or at least I did in my mind).

Maybe more so than anything I did on my trip, I wholeheartedly recommend trying out the Songkran Festival in Thailand. It's a wild, fun time, and it's completely unlike anything I have experienced before or likely ever will again.

Runners up: Riding a Vespa around wine country, jumping off the Kawarau Bridge in New Zealand, watching the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United in Barcelona (at Primavera Sound)

Wayne Coyne and I at Parc Guell in Barcelona

Best Celebrity Moment: Meeting Wayne Coyne in Parc Guell

I met an oddly large amount of famous people on this adventure. The King of Mississippi from True Blood/Burnt Man from American Horror Story and his boyfriend (now husband) gave me money to buy a bus ticket to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, Australia. Talked to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost at Supanova in Melbourne, Australia. met Arcade Fire at Gare du Nord in Paris. But the best had to be meeting The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne.

I love The Flaming Lips, and a big reason why is because the sheer life affirming joy one stems from their live performances. If you haven't seen one of their shows, it's like happiness in concert form. A big reason why they are like that is because their lead singer Wayne Coyne seems to be the nicest and most gregarious guy on the planet. While in Barcelona in Gaudi's Parc Guell, I was chatting with my friend Amy when Coyne showed up right near me, eating a popsicle and picking up left behind litter (makes sense). I'm terrible at meeting people I admire, and my god, I was nervous beyond words. But I went up and introduced myself, took a picture with him and talked with him for a bit about their shows and Alaska.

Basically, we're best friends.

The only thing I regret from that experience is not asking if I could be one of the people who danced on stage during their shows. They always have people in costumes dancing up there, and I absolutely should have asked them if I could be one. But that's okay. It was still a thrill to meet him, and I was stoked to see them live the next day. Maybe next time...

Runners up: Meeting Arcade Fire in Paris, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Melbourne

Soccer pool at a bar in Reykjavik

Nicest People: Iceland

Iceland is a really interesting place. It's a lot like Alaska in a lot of ways, but also completely not. It's like Alaska if fermented shark seemed like a good thing to eat and that there was a decent percentage of the population believed in magical things (with a significant amount of waterfalls thrown into the mix as well).

But one of the things that stood out the most had to be just how nice the people were in Iceland. Sure, the people in Japan and particularly New Zealand were crazy nice as well (CRAZY NICE in New Zealand), but the people in Iceland were just so damn interesting and fun and friendly. It was like a bohemian remix of Alaska, with everyone speaking in adorable accents and exhibiting a passion for life (and a fear of heat) that made them endlessly amusing.

Plus, their enthusiasm for nightlife even though their alcohol is outrageously expensive is awe inspiring. You get the feeling when you're out on the town in Reykjavik, in particular, that everyone knows everyone (besides you). But even that last tidbit is only a temporary impediment, as it is only a matter of time before you get to know them too over a shared beer or you getting obliterated by them in foosball.

Runners up: Japan, New Zealand

Bungee Jumping in New Zealand

Thing That the Most People Found Surprising About my Trip: That I did it myself

Fun fact about doing this trip by myself: that was the best idea of the whole deal.

Some people fear experiencing things by themselves. Someone I know told me once that my generation's biggest problem is our fierce co-dependency issues, which I have never been able to disagree with. We're seriously co-dependent.

But I've never had a problem with that. I like seeing movies by myself. I like eating by myself. I like living by myself.

The good news about traveling by yourself is...well, there are a lot of good things about it. People by themselves are far easier for others to approach (I was told this over and over). Being by yourself means that if you want a day of hardcore tourism (power traveling, if you will), you can do that, or if you want a night on your iPad, you can do that, or if you want to spend the night drinking at a bar in Reykjavik until 6:30 AM, you can do that too. You can be with people. You can be by yourself. It doesn't matter.

Don't get me wrong, I love experiencing things with others too. But the thing about it is I could do that, but it became a choice for me, not a potential weight around me. Plus, if I was going to wait for someone to be able to travel around the world with me for five months, I probably would be waiting forever. I was not interested in that, and I have five months of memories that prove that going by myself wasn't a bad idea, but a great idea.

My older lady pal Ryi asking if I can join a wedding party for a pic

Best Supporting People: Senior Citizens

I'm not sure what a unifying factor for the senior citizens of the world should be, but I know what one is: myself.

No matter what country I was in or when it was or what I was doing, it seemed as if the older population of that locale went out of their way to help me no matter what I happened to be doing. Whether it was endless kiwis picking me up in their rickety old trucks to give me a ride (because I "looked like I was trying hard to get somewhere"), friendly town matriarchs who wanted to share her home's history with me, lovely older Japanese women who want to walk with me to practice their English and to share their country, or any number of other benevolent older person, I never had less than a glowing experience from the senior citizen crowd.

I have no idea if it was a me thing or if it was just because I happened to get lucky with who I met, but man, seniors of the world, I have this to say to you: thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Believe it or not, the best hot dog I have ever had is in Reykjavik

Weirdest Food: Hákarl in Reykjavik

Anthony Bourdain called it the worst food he's ever eaten. Gordon Ramsay vomited after he ate it in a challenge with another famous person. It's Hákarl, also known as fermented shark, and it's, according to Wikipedia, "similar to very strong cheese slathered in ammonia."

When I suggested to native Icelandic folk that I was going to try it, they all just laughed. "You aren't going to like it," my driver into Reykjavik told me. "But if you try it, make sure to go to the flea market to do so, because then it will be free and the best." The Icelandic...always so caring.

So to the flea market I went, desperate to try this delicacy that at best would be "interesting" (never a word you want to hear about food on the upside) and at worst "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing," as Bourdain said.

I tried it, with an amused merchant looking on, and I actually really liked it! Sure, it was small enough to not get killed by it, but in small doses (it's served on a toothpick and is best paired with a popular Icelandic alcohol called Brennivin) it's oddly enjoyable.

Granted, I later went back with the Croatian Ken Jennings (aka my buddy Mislav) and the same merchant pulled a fast one on me by giving me an epic piece that nearly made me vomit, but the idea is still there. When in small doses, it's pretty good. I'm still glad I tried it.

Runners up: Fried Pig Ears in Madrid, nearly everything in Japan

My old friend Amanda and I in Japan

Best Advice I Can Give You: Make the trip rain

And by that, I mean anyone and everyone should go on a trip like this. I don't know why you wouldn't. It is literally the best thing I have ever done. I will always look back on it with great joy and happiness, and I think it changed me in very positive ways (or at least I hope it did). It was fun, exciting, educational, challenging and wonderful, and it really wasn't even that expensive.

If you have the opportunity to go and do something great, or to live your dream, you should do that. I don't know why a person wouldn't, but you absolutely should. What's the point of life if you don't do the things you desperately want to? I'm 27 and I've already lived my dream. But I have good news for everyone.

I can always get a new dream.

The Catch Up Plan

2010-07-31T12:03:00.000-08:00

I think a lot of my problem with getting back into blogging is the fact that I feel like I just have so damn much to cover from the past couple months during my slacker days of writing. At least, that's what Sheri and I came up with while she was up visiting. So in lieu of going back through and posting every little thing I wanted to post about and beyond, I'm going to unveil a three step plan to getting back into blogging.

1) Catch up in pictures - One post, tons of pictures, all showing what I've been up to when I haven't been blogging

2) What music I've been digging - Not a list where I rank my favorite albums like usual...more of an aggregated list of what I've been digging in one place. Expect lots of awesome because I've been enjoying my fair share of new music recently.

3) What movies have caught my eye in 2010 and why - I haven't written much about movies this year except Inception and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (immediately preceding this post). Time to talk about what I've liked about in recent memory and to finally catch up on that.

Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

2010-07-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

I want to preface this review with an important note about myself as a reviewer. As a comic fan, my personal preference for comic movies is an entirely new take on a character/comic rather than a slavish recreation. I like to think of these films as another universe in which these characters exist, quite like All Star Superman is to Supes or Kingdom Come is to most of the DCU. Its a new sandbox for filmmakers to play in, which is why people like Christopher Nolan thrive while the Zack Snyder's of the world struggle.

With that said, Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim is a whole different animal than previous comic movies: its a comic in which so much of its charm exists in its specificity. In the careful exactitudes and moments and comedic beats that he nails throughout the series.

Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) clearly understands this, as throughout this film he nails the important bits that make O'Malley's series so transcendant in its existence. Kim Pine's count offs as Sex Bob-omb prepares to launch into "Launchpad McQuack." The pure hilarity of drunk Wallace's recreation of Scott's side of their conversation ("there he is"). The stylistic story bubbles that revealed ratings and the ownership of belongings and things of that sort. Comeau + Crash and the Boys being included. The way Stacey Pilgrim always knows everything immediately (thanks to Wallace). These are the types of things that makes this book so damn amusing to its core, and in kind, make the film so delightful.

In a lot of ways, Wright takes even the comic to a new level with the way he stages fights. Sure, he takes some short cuts in these sequences (no Honest Ed's as Todd and Scott face off, and no robots much to Brandon's chagrin), but at the same time, these are places he has to take them. The film is sub two hours. The series is SIX BOOKS LONG. Cutting these fights down to their core not only allows Wright to focus on making them hugely entertaining and kinetic (good lord are these fights energetic), but also allows more time for story and character moments. In particular, I liked the way he spliced together the Todd Ingram fight (and the stunt casting of Thomas Jane and Clifton Collins as the Vegan Police - yes!), losing some of the core elements but still making it work in its own right.

The movie shines as Wright turns this film into a living, breathing video game, having fights culminate with the Smash Bros. "K.O." ringing through our ears and one-ups being a way of life (literally). It is an uncanny visual accomplishment by Wright, and something that is really an astounding achievement overall (bonus points for incorporating O'Malley's art into the movie also).

Yet, not everything worked for me. In fact, there were a few things that bothered me greatly.

Namely, I felt that the core women in the story (Ramona Flowers, Kim Pine, Envy Adams) were poorly developed. Sure, their development had to be cut to a degree to make the movie a manageable length, but without their backstory and their fleshed out relationships with Scott, the movie seems weightless at times. Kim Pine was just there often, being sardonic but never really acting as the stabilizing factor she always did in the books. Envy Adams was a bitch, but not a redeemable one really at all. She was just kind of there, and then she wasn't.

Ramona was perhaps the most criminal, as not only was she not given a ton to do nor was the relationship between her and Scott really real feeling, but Mary Elizabeth Winstead left me feeling colder than the way she broke up with Scott. To me, in the books it was easy to fall in love with Ramona. She's mysterious, vivacious, and often brilliant, but in the movie she was mostly lifeless. I found myself wanting more from her as a character, and without her pushing the plot along the end game just felt like...well, a game. At a certain point, it seemed like a freaking awesome version of a fighting game fully realized on the screen.

The book series was so phenomenal because the way it infused the stylistic genius of O'Malley with a tried and true plot strained through years of video gaming and indie rock, as well as infusing it with rich characters that layered true weight into an occasionally fluffy story. Wright got most of it right, but was found lacking by yours truly at times.

I have to give credit where credit is due though, a lot of the cast killed it. Michael Cera...well, there just couldn't be another Scott Pilgrim. He is the guy, and he was right from the very beginning. Casting Kieran Culkin did two things: truly brought Wallace to life as well as making me even more shocked that Culkin isn't a star. Brandon Routh, Chris Evans and Jason Schartzman (unsurprisingly) stole the evil exes show in my book, and not just because they are the most famous...they also happened to be the most awesome (Routh in particular killed as Todd Ingram). Allison Pill was Kim Pine on screen, but she really didn't get a whole lot to do - I would have killed to have more with her.

Wasn't a huge fan of the casting jobs on Knives and Stephen Stills, but they were satisfactory, just not superb like most of the cast.

The music throughout was superb - I loved the Beck written, Broken Social Scene performed Sex Bob-omb tracks. I really dug The Clash at Demonhead in execution. They really made the music almost a character on its own, and I greatly appreciated how Wright worked throughout to make that such an important factor.

All in all, this movie was more successful than it wasn't. Was it enjoyable? Yes it was. I found myself to be incredibly pumped by many sequences, and I was enthralled throughout. However, there were things that nagged at me: the aforementioned weightlessness and some scenes (early ones, in particular) that were so aimed at the core audience that they almost felt choked out by the attempts to recreate the comic. It was a very entertaining movie and a damn fine adaptation, not to mention one of the most unique films I've ever seen. But it could have been so much more.

I do have to say Brandon and I went with someone who hadn't read the comics, and unlike the comic heavy group at the theater, he found most of the film to be utterly preposterous. More so than ever, I'm more than a little concerned about SP's chances at the box office - can a movie like this succeed financially? I have my doubts after seeing it for myself. It's a movie for the hardcore, and not many more, I fear.

We'll see if I'm wrong come August 13th.

Final Verdict: 7.8 - Buy (a ticket)

Doppleganger David

2010-07-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

In the past year, the idea of having a doppleganger has somehow become a hot concept. You had Doppleganger Month on Facebook, the whole of the most recent season of How I Met Your Mother somehow being mostly about finding ones double, and an odd mix of other examples. Never did I think I would actually find mine.

But then I did.

Last night, as my friends and I crashed a Calista event (open bar and free food? Yes please) we managed to come across a person who looked fairly similar to me (I think I'm more attractive). I was very resistant of meeting him because I figured the world would explode if we came into contact, ending life as we know it for the rest of time, but when Amy forced the issue nothing happened. Thankfully.

With that said, he did turn out to be odd and sort of a creepster. He hit on my friend Cate and managed to make a group of people who normally is never awkward (i.e. Cate, Amy, Eric and myself) very awkward.

Still, I had to share photographic proof of this bizarre event with my readers. Enjoy, and let me know if you think he resembles me.

Another Article!

2010-07-30T16:55:00.000-08:00

I had another article in the Play section of the Anchorage Daily News today, as I wrote the feature for the upcoming Cake concert. This meant I got to talk to the lead singer of one of my favorite bands and write about them in a way I never thought I'd be able to in the past. It was my favorite article yet, and I really think I'm getting better with each passing article.

Check it out here, and look for me to get back in the swing of things this weekend on the old blog.

Review: Inception

2010-07-18T22:08:00.000-08:00

In a summer filled with (even more) brainless action flicks and romantic comedies, getting a movie that even qualifies as good (save Toy Story 3) was beginning to seem like a lost cause.

That we finally get a movie that is not just high quality but also wildly inventive and completely unlike anything else we’ll see this summer (or anything else ever more than likely) is shocking, until you realize it’s virtuoso filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s handiwork. This past Friday, his new film Inception came out and it not only met the towering hype that preceded it but surpassed it.

The film begins with kings of extraction - the art of stealing from others dreams – Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) attempting to ransack the dreams of energy magnate Saito (Ken Watanabe). The genesis of this job stems from the comic prequel Inception: The Cobol Job, but the comic isn’t necessary as this film stands entirely on its own. This job goes poorly, and the whole of the film spins thusly from there. However, to go into the plot seems like it would just be a foolhardy task. This film in its two and a half hours of running time weaves many plot threads together while going into a level of depth (this word will have new meaning when you watch the film) that you just don’t see in blockbusters – if I wrote about the plot, I’d need probably at least 10,000 words.

Suffice it to say, you should just watch it.

But why should you watch it? Many have quickly drawn parallels from this film to The Matrix, and while I see bits of that, I think that’s an entirely unfair comparison. People find the need to compare one film with another incessantly because it is an easy way out, but to rely upon that convention would be unfair to the film: Inception is one that stands entirely on its own as a fiercely original and remarkably innovative spin on classic filmmaking. Not only that, but unlike other pioneering efforts, Nolan manages to ground these ideas with sheer perfection in storytelling.

The basic premise is a man that wants to get home, and the lengths that he’ll go to make that happen. Around that framework, Nolan expands and creates like he’s one of the dream architects from the film. In comics, many people say it’s the perfect artform because the sole hindrance on quality and innovation is the creator and his/her imagination. With full studio support after a stunning list of previous efforts behind him, Nolan becomes perhaps the first auteur to make a film of pure, unadultered imagination that works as unabashed spectacle as well. Whether you’re talking second level Arthur developing the kick to awaken his team knee deep in Inception (the job, not the movie), Ariadne’s (Ellen Page) first efforts as a dream architect, or the expansive third level showdown against a slew of winter commandoes, this movie is filled to the brim with well crafted action set pieces. It’s a massively entertaining film that is elegantly paced and ferociously intelligent.

Yet, all of these elements would be for naught if the players bringing them to life were not game. Thankfully Nolan pulled out all stops and assembled a veritable all star team of actors. You’ve got DiCaprio giving us a restrained and smoldering lead performance. There’s Gordon-Levitt taking a different turn on his formula as the unimaginative yet effective Arthur. When Page comes into the equation, she turns the story as a whole with her ever-evident intelligence and her charisma that acts as a bridge between the cast. With those three, you have a remarkable top three, but it goes far deeper than that.

For me, Tom Hardy as Eames stole every scene he was in. Exhibiting the same charm he has as a scoundrel in films like Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla, the screen crackles when he is on it. Recurring Nolan players Watanabe and Cillian Murphy give us nice spins on their norm, as Watanabe gives us an angel that always seems as if he could be the devil at any turn, and Murphy manages to take a more basic role as a mark and make it an emotionally resonant and well developed one. Everyone kills it in this movie.

I could just go on and on. Wally Pfister continues his beautiful symbiotic relationship with Nolan, as he continues to create an iconic look and feel to each of Nolan’s films with his cinematography. Hans Zimmer’s score is heavy and atmospheric, ever present but never really existing anywhere besides in the back of your brain (very similar to what he did with The Dark Knight). Everyone on the visual effects team…well, they did an incredible job at fully realizing Nolan’s imagination on the screen, and I bet each job they get after this will seem boring in comparison.

Long story short, Inception is definitely the best blockbuster film since The Dark Knight, and perhaps one of the greatest summer offerings ever. What Nolan does with this film is essentially throwing down the gauntlet to all other filmmakers, effectively telling them that just because they are making a big budget movie doesn’t mean that it has to be brainless or old hat. In a time where everything we get anymore are retreads, remakes, and ridiculous dreck, to experience a film like Inception is utterly refreshing and reinvigorating. It gives hope to this viewer that originality is still a possibility in a medium that I love that so often falls back on places they’ve already treaded.

I have to say though; it only makes sense that the two camps that have produced films that work as both entertainment and as art this summer have been Pixar and Nolan. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

To close this review, I have this line from /Film’s David Chen:

Buying a ticket for Inception is buying a ticket in support of high-quality, original filmmaking at big movie studios. It’s buying a ticket in support of the idea that a movie doesn’t have to be dumb to be popular, that it doesn’t have to cater to the lowest common denominator to make money.

Couldn't agree more. Make sure you catch this film.

Final Verdict: 9.5/10

The Weekend Edition

2010-07-11T22:01:00.000-08:00

Another weekend down, and one in preparation of a new adventure that I never expected to take. It was a good weekend, and one that was definitely better than the previous one (which was a tad dramatic for my taste). What went down?

Getting off work early, time for Frisbee Golf with Marc and Colver!
Filming 4 Color News & Brews with Brandon
Moose's Tooth with Darren, Cate and Eric
Downtown bars (and riding the bull!) with Eric, Cate, Lorna, Cassi and others
Hitting up Fire Island with Steph
3rd/4th Place game in the World Cup at the Bear Tooth with Marc and Eric
Foosball like CRAZY!
Watching Colver and Joanne's softball team with Marc (free beer and burgers!)
Grilling and hanging out at Colver and Lorna's with a slew of people
World Cup final at my place with Marc, Eric and Colver (horrible game)
Frisbee Golf with Marc and Colver (again!)
Hula Hands!
Cake article writing!
Hanging out and watching movies!

Because this isn't necessarily worth a full article (and nothing really stands out as momentous enough to have its own big moment section down here), I figure I'll talk about movies.

Recently I signed up for Netflix on my Xbox 360, allowing me to instantly stream movies via Netflix on my TV...and it is freaking AWESOME.

I've been watching all kinds of movies lately on it, and massively disparate ones at that. In the past two weekends I've watched King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters, Ink, 2 Days in Paris, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 180 Degrees South and Zombieland, all without having to move or really do anything besides pressing a few buttons. There are tons of movies that I want to see on there that I haven't seen yet, and it instantaneously makes the whole Netflix paradigm worthwhile for me once again. Plus, with so many movies on there I've never heard of, I may find a new favorite purely by accident.

If you haven't tried it out (and I'm sure you have, because I'm behind on everything cool), I highly recommend it.

My Article is Up

2010-07-09T13:32:00.001-08:00

My article is up at ADN.com and it's even currently on the front and center. I'm a featured writer, everyone! Yeah! Check it out and please notate the apparent mistake I made in the article that fleets of people have noticed already.

Jerks.

I'm in the Paper! (Again)

2010-07-08T22:51:00.000-08:00

It seems that my raw writing talent has struck the fancy of the Anchorage Daily News once again, as I'm writing not just one but TWO articles for them over the next month. The first one will be appearing in Friday's edition on the front page of the Play section (for non-Alaskans, this is the Entertainment section that appears every Friday) and is a profile of Alaskan musician Jared Woods. He's a heck of a nice guy and very talented as well, and it was a blast getting to know him. I'll link to this article tomorrow.

On top of that, I was offered the piece on Cake much to my delight. Cake is one of my all-time favorite bands, and one that I've connected with for a very long time. In fact, I'd say they're perhaps the most consistent band in my life. I like them as much today as I did when I first liked them.

This gave me the chance to have a phone conversation with lead singer John McCrea (!!), in which I got to speak to him specifically for the piece and took the opportunity to ask a couple questions I always wanted to ask. The guy was a gem, and it made me extremely happy to say "holy crap, I interviewed one of my favorite bands."

Considering I'm basically a big fraud who can't write at all, it's pretty cool that I've managed to interview so many artists of different mediums that I greatly respect over the past few years. Thank god none of them were in person, otherwise I likely would have had a panic attack and been breathing through a paper bag throughout the conversation. Turns out that is frowned upon.

That piece will be coming some time shortly before the show (if I was a betting man, I'd say July 30th), and hopefully I can do an okay job on that one too. No less, look for my name out there as I use the ADN as a launching pad for my dream career: traveling food writer. This is totally going to work. Traveling to the south of France to sample escargot, going to the far reaches of Thailand for the top curries in the world, and all the way to NYC to try the best in bagels...great. Now I'm hungry. This job is going to ruin me.

LeBrongate

2010-07-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that if you have a pulse, you've heard the deafening buzz about LeBron James and his free agency. Given that he is inarguably the most talented player in the NBA and so many teams have opened up cap space for him, it has been pretty much insanity through and through. Will it be Cleveland? New York? Chicago? Who will it be? We'll find out tonight on his TV special where he announces his intent (seriously), but according to Chris Broussard of ESPN, it looks like he'll be heading to Miami.

Much to the chagrin of Bill Simmons.

As Simmons points out, it is starting to seem like this has all been manufactured drama by the big three free agents: James, Dwyane Wade, and their far less talented and interesting counterpart Chris Bosh. It seems Wade and Bosh had been filming all of this for a documentary, and all of the action has played out like a bad reality series. The parallels are there, as Simmons points out, and I have to say if its true I'm pretty disgusted by it.

The weirdest thing about all of this is the fact that I honestly don't think a team of those three players and 9 scrubs will win an NBA championship. Odds on none of them getting hurt are low, and all of them are such nice guys that I don't think that I'd find it hard to believe that they'd have the killer instinct to dispatch other squads. Would they have a chance against the Lakers? I really don't think so.

It is all very disappointing to me as well, as I genuinely like LeBron and feel as if the place for him is Cleveland. I miss the days of yesteryear - supporting the team that supports you. Paying back fans with honor and with respect. If LeBron goes to Miami, it seems to me that he's sticking it to all of his faithful fans, and quickly becomes a villain in my mind.

The good news about all of this is it is a win win in a lot of ways. If he stays in Cleveland, he regains my respect. If he goes to Miami, I have a new team to root against. The question is, will the 2010-2011 Miami Heat become the new Evil Empire? According to Broussard (who is, in my opinion, a complete toolbox and wrong about 99% of the time), they will be. Here's hoping Broussard keeps to his pattern of being wrong about everything.

The Evolution of a Soccer Fan

2010-07-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

It seems like with each passing World Cup I become a slightly bigger soccer fan. I've always been one to a certain degree, but this World Cup has been a definine one for me as I've been unbelievably into almost every match I've laid my eyes into. It wasn't just USA's inspiring and also disappointing run (these games were SO FUN to watch at Humpy's though), but I find myself quickly becoming a passionate supporter of whichever team I enjoy watching in any given match.

Whether it's watching the complete dismantling of Argentina by Germany or the quiet cool of Spain as they protect their lead against the same Germans, I find it intoxicating to observe these players working together in a synchronicity that you rarely see in American sports. Plays don't develop on the ball necessarily - every moving piece factors into each and every play, and it is a joy to watch some of the best creators out there like Thomas Müller, Wesley Sneijder or Xavi do what they do best - pick apart defenses and make it rain on dem hoes.

That's right.

I did bring up Müller intentionally. The only blemish on the Cup as a whole has been the rather shoddy reffing - no way in hell should Müller have missed the Spain match, and he easily could have turned the tide for the Germans. He was a catalyst throughout the Cup for them, and he's one of the best young stars in the game. It was a shame to have him out for that match.

With that said, the Cup ending is a truly sad event for me. I'll be paying more attention to the EPL and other leagues going forward, but the Cup has just been an unbelievably exciting time for me. It's going to culminate on Saturday and Sunday with two great matches, as Eric, myself and perhaps others will be watching it live on the Bear Tooth big screen. My take? Germany is going to walk all over Uruguay (I'm thinking 4-1, or something similar to the dismantling of Argentina), while I like the offensive pressure of Holland to overtake Spain and their "let's get a goal and protect" methodry 2-1.

Enjoy the games this weekend everyone!

"Let the Right One In" >>>>> "Let Me In"

2010-07-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

I try not to judge a movie by its trailer too much. Often, films look way more awesome or way worse than they are based off the trailer. I tend to at least give them the benefit of the doubt until I see reviews.

But the trailer for Let Me In, the American remake of the absurdly good Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In is just ridiculous. It looks like it recaps a lot of the moments of the original, it seems to miss the point and the pace of its predecessor. I generally think remakes are a bad idea, especially when recent films that were remarkably fresh are concerned. This isn't just a movie that didn't need to be remade, it shouldn't be remade.

Yet here we are, with video proof of this remake that didn't need to happen. Le sigh...

The Weekend Edition (Version Kim.0)

2010-06-28T22:56:00.001-08:00

My dear friend Kim came into town over the past weekend, which led this weekend to be extra ridiculous and extra packed as well as extra long. I took Friday off to hang out with her, much to her (and my) delight. What went down?

Breakfast at Middle Way with Kim
Hiking Flat Top with Kim
Lunch at Dish and making it rain golf balls at the driving range with Kim and Colver
Crazy times in Anchorage bars with Kim, Lorna, Colver, Amy, Justin, Eric, and Chris (AND GALLAGHER!)
Being saddened by the US Soccer team losing to Ghana in the knockout rounds at Humpy's
Knight and Day with Joanne and Kim (awesomely entertaining!)
Going to play Bingo with Colver, Joanne and Kim (ridiculous, but entertaining)
Hanging out with Joanne, watching movies and eating home made ice cream sandwiches
Talkeetna adventure with Colver, Lorna and Kim!

Over the past few years, a number of people have moved out of my life, but perhaps none have been sadder departures than Kim. Her move to Portland left me with one less partner-in-crime, as I could always rely on Kim to do pretty much damn near everything I wanted to do so long as I gave her a little warning. I mean, this weekend kind of showed that: a hike, bingo, road trips, delicious meals, a movie, and more. It was a fantastic weekend, even if Anchorage didn't give her much more than Portland had recently in the weather department. It was fantastic having her back.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that Friday night while at the bars, we hung out with Gallagher. As in THE Gallagher, of comedy and smashing watermelons fame. It was surreal, as he was just hanging out at the bar meeting people in downtown Anchorage. How weird is that? Just another odd highlight of a top weekend filled with all kinds of ridiculousness. Just the way I like it.

Burger Me

2010-06-28T22:28:00.001-08:00

Travel Channel's Man vs. Food isn't a favorite show of mine, but when I watch it on the occasions that I do I'm instantly hooked. I mean, it's about food and food is pretty much my favorite thing on the planet, so there is a natural connection. Last season, Adam Richman came up to Alaska for a food challenge and to visit a few of our local dining establishments. Of course I went and watched the build up for the main challenge at Humpy's, but I had no idea what exactly he did for his other two meals.

Then the show premiered and I saw something glorious...a burger of destiny. This burger - the Seward's Folly - was from West Rib Pub & Grill in Talkeetna, and it was 4 pounds of pure, unadultered intensity. Two one pound caribou patties, a pound of ham, 12 strips of bacon, 12 slices of cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, fatass sauce (bacon, mayo, raspberry vinaigrette, sauerkraut), and three buns...this burger does not mess around.

Given that I pride myself on my eating prowess, Joanne, Eric, Darren, Cate and I ventured up to Talkeetna so I could try the burger. And I...got dominated. I made it through half of the burger and half the fries, but I just couldn't eat any more. To this day, I claim that it had nothing to do with me being full and everything to do with being completely done with the flavor. It wore me out and beat me down - it was just too much burger for me, but not in the way I thought it would be.

This past weekend with Kim in town, the two of us and Colver and Lorna went to Talkeetna just to hang out. While there, we had lunch at the same restaurant. This time I actually was able to order my burger instead of having to torturously work my way through it - I just got to enjoy it. It was a ridiculously delicious burger, but one that was mitigated in its awesomeness midway through by a horrible site: someone else going after the Seward's Folly.

I sat and watched as this man who looked like he had wandered in from the woods took the burger to pieces, eating everything but the middle bun and the fruit/veggies, and even taking down the fries. The waiter (who a month previously had jokingly shamed me) walked by him and simply stated "wow." This genuinely affected me, as the only thing that had consoled my defeat by the burger was that only one person had finished the burger previously. Then the wild woodsman came in and took me to pieces.

This just motivated me, as I now need to begin my vigorous training to get in game shape to take this burger out. It's going to happen!

The Weekend Edition (TGAASH2KX Edition)

2010-06-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

I've gotten back to slacking at the good ol' blog, but I'm returning with another glorious entry in my "Weekend Edition" series in which I recap my life on the weekends. This weekend...was a particularly good one. I've discovered that I almost never have remotely bad ones, but this one? This one was a gem. Why is that?

Dinner at Bear Tooth with Gen and Eric (and eventually Colver and Joanne)
Buckaroo Club with Gen, Eric, Colver, Joanne, Amy, Olivia and JT - yeah!
Gathering the troops with Joanne
The meet up at Middle Way Cafe for The Great Alaska Awesome Scavenger Hunt 2010!
The Great Alaska Awesome Scavenger Hunt 2010! with Joanne, Steph and Gen
Father's Day BBQ at my parents
Toy Story 3 with my family - amazing!
Bike ride from my apartment to Point Woronzof - surprisingly exhausting
Catching Bravo's Work of Art with Amy

The highlight had to be The Great Alaska Awesome Scavenger Hunt 2010 (aka TGAASH2KX). The only reason I didn't mention this on my blog before was because of purely slackerness (a new word trademarked to me exclusively), but this was an event I had randomly came up with when wanting to sing karaoke as I drove along blaring music and singing along as per usual. Then, I proposed the idea to Joanne and we came up with a laundry list of activities for teams of 2 to do together. Thus...TGAASH2KX was born.

Eventually it expanded a bit, as our founding team became Joanne, Stephanie, Gen and myself. We ended up with four teams who had from noon until midnight to check as many things off on the list as humanly possible. This list included tiers of possible scoring activities, from things as simple as "take a picture with a police officer" to things as intense as "zipline from Flat Top to the Sheraton Hotel". Our team rocked the house and had an AMAZING day doing so. I couldn't possibly have had a better team, as we drove around singing along to glorious tunes, learning a lot about each other, and having the best day ever together. It was just..sublime.

Hopefully this ends up being the first of many of these events. We've already casually discussed what we'll do if we end up moving away from each other...getting back together for a new event yearly? Meeting at a new place? Who knows, but I do know that this event had to have been one of the best days ever.

I'll post videos of some of the more ridiculous events (getting naked in Chilkoot Charlie's Birdhouse and falling into Westchester Lagoon had to be the clubhouse leaders for "most ridiculous"), but trust me when I say it was one of the most ridiculous days ever.

At Home

2010-06-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

As I may have mentioned on these pages before, Iceland's Sigur Rós (regardless of my inability to properly pronounce their name) have long been one of my favorite bands - if not my absolute favorite. All of their albums pack an incredible punch with me, heightening whatever emotions I'm feeling at any given moment no matter what. It doesn't matter what emotion it is, they have the amazing ability to fit anything I feel and make that emotion all the more textured and assured.

One of my favorite movies has to be the documentary about their travels through Iceland as they put together a free, unannounced tour through all parts of the country no matter how small. This journey in 2006 was one of uncertainty (as the band says in the film, they never knew if anyone would actually show up), but it ended up being a uniting point of pure positivity for a country that has seen troubling times befall them. This documentary is called Heima ("at home" in Icelandic) and is alternately the world's greatest advertisement for Iceland and perhaps my favorite performance/music film ever. I find myself being compelled to watch it on a nearly monthly basis (strangely almost always combined with Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog, which makes sense from a Rob Gordon of High Fidelity organization sort of way as I purchased them on the same day), always finding new and enriching reasons to fall in love with it once again.

If you're a fan of Sigur Rós and you haven't seen it yet, shame on you. It's a beautiful film and something that should be experienced. If you aren't a fan of Sigur Rós, even bigger shame on you and I highly suggest you get on that right now because they are one of the most remarkably talented bands I've ever heard.

If you need convincing, watch the video above. It's from Heima and is of "Sé Lest", one of their standout tracks from 2005's remarkable album Takk...

Seriously.

2010-06-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

Given that I've been outside a whole lot, it makes sense that I missed this. But really, I cannot believe this commercial exists.

I am also very glad that it exists.

Drinking from the World Cup

2010-06-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

I don't know what it is about it, but with every passing World Cup I become more and more excited about the event as a whole. Ever since 1996 I've been excited about it, but this year's event that is starting Friday morning in South Africa is generating the most from me yet. I'm not sure if it is the passing resemblance of a good team that Team USA has in 2010 (ranked 15th in the world!) or if it is just budding interest in soccer, but man, I am jacked.

This is of course being realized in simple things, like listening to podcasts about the World Cup, quickly distinguishing simple things like the difference between the best of the best and whether or not they're going to play (is Drogba in or out?! I have to know!), and playing more FIFA Soccer 2010 than I have since I purchased it online. I even reupped with my X-Box Live Gold account so I could go online and get absolutely annihilated by the people are actually talented at it. Alas, it is still strangely fun, and it just gets me more excited to see the range of players on Man U's roster who will get taken out by Team USA on Saturday morning (USA! USA!).

Given that I'm out at Cate's cabin Friday evening, you would think that I wouldn't be so buzzed about the USA/England match on Saturday morning, but that is where you're mistaken. That morning I'm going on radio silence and not even checking my phone until I get back and watch the DVR'd version with Eric and Amy. I want to take it all in as we deliver the worst defeat of the British since the Revolutionary War.

Here's hoping I'm note eating my words come 12:30 PM Alaska Standard Time.

In Your Face, Knee!

2010-06-08T19:14:00.000-08:00

To follow up on my previous post about my injured knee, I met with the doctor finally to talk about its status and what he thinks I should do. Thankfully, he is a firm believer in the idea that he can fix everything arthroscopically and that I won't need to have microfracture surgery.

Yes, if you heard an epic sigh of relief at 9:30 AM Alaska Standard Time, that was me.

Basically what that means for me is instead of having a four to eight month recovery time and a reasonable chance of everything going awry, the doctor said I could be playing basketball again within a month of the procedure. In addition, I can keep hiking and doing everything I'm doing until September, at which point I can have my surgery and still leave the country for vacation in November as planned.

If it was physically possible for me to do it without pain, this is the point where I would be hammer dancing across my apartment.

The Weekend Edition

2010-06-07T11:59:00.001-08:00

After a weekend that had even more awesome because of the extra day in its midst, it would have taken a lot to keep everything going as strong. Given that it's summer in Alaska and the world is my oyster though it was still a phenomenal time even with the slightly shorter weekend than the holiday provided. Why is that?

Party down! with Amy, Eric, Cate, and a ton more characters (see picture below)
Relaxed day chilling at Amy's watching movies
Get Him to the Greek with Colver and Lorna
Mexican night at Amy's!
Biscuits and Gravy with Cate and Darren (Bear Tooth ftw!)
Hiking False Falls Peak with Amy, Stephanie and Olivia (sliding down the mountain!)
Frisbee golf with Amy and Emily
Garden party with Amy, Puff Daddy, Cornershop, and a lot, lot more
Frisbee on the park strip

Another near perfect weekend in the books found me entertained from all types of things provided by the diversity Anchorage offers. While I frequently complain about Alaska during the winter, you rarely see me say anything negative about it in the summertime. Why is that?

Because it's freaking awesome.

Perpetual sunlight and warm weather. The ability to get on the water, get to the mountains, and do anything in between within the city. People that are constantly up for anything because they know winter is always around the corner. Really, you combine those things and you get one hell of a recipe for an awesome time.

Expect many, many more very positive Weekend Editions going forward, assuming we don't have a random snowpocalypse or something of that sort in the near future. *knocks on wood*

Broken Down

2010-06-04T10:41:00.001-08:00

One of the things I didn't update my fair readers on in my month long absence from blogging was a health condition change. Generally speaking, I don't go to the doctor because I hate spending money to find out I'm a big hypochondriac. I always feel like that's my experience.

Me: Something is wrong with my knee.
Doctor: Ha. Nothing is wrong with your knee.
Me: Well crap...really?
Doctor: I don't know, I was counting your money, I didn't even look at it. Stop being a girl.

Needless to say, my opinion of Alaskan doctoring is not strong. However, after my last hypochondriac fest, I decided to go in and get an MRI on my continuously pained right knee. I haven't played basketball in 3 months (which is the longest I've taken off from basketball since...birth?) so I figured it was time to take care of business. The MRI revealed that I have a partially torn meniscus (which happen all of the time) and an osteochondral lesion (which happen...less often).

What does that mean for me? Well, let's think of this in basketball terms. I'm going to have to have Brandon Roy surgery (shave off part of my meniscus) AND Greg Oden surgery (microfracture surgery). For those that follow basketball, I'm sure you shuddered at the latter part because it is notoriously difficult to recover from. The good news is that from what I understand I can still do pretty much anything besides play basketball and I can wait until the end of the summer to have the surgery. This means I've been biking, hiking and enjoying the sun as much as humanly possible, and will continue to do so until it is medically impossible for me to.

Of course, I go into the doctor on June 7th for the real confirmation, so there's a chance he'll be like "you're an idiot" and tell me "surgery now or you're gonna die!" Crossing my fingers for not that, as Alaska in the summer is way more fun when I'm not walking around with an unintentional gangster limp.

The Weekend Edition (V. Memorial Day Weekend)

2010-06-02T13:04:00.003-08:00

This is coming in late because it turns out Memorial Day Weekend is long, sun-filled, and crazy fun in Alaska circa 2010. It was a weekend that was filled to the brim with 80's dance films, POW camps, BBQ's, hiking, camping, and even a man named Dollface. What all went down this past weekend?

Sleeping through the Celtics/Magic on Friday at Colver's (turns out it didn't with a bang)
Intense foosball over at Colver's with Amy, Eric and Colver
Kick-Ass! (very entertaining, but not a great movie)
Camping adventure to Crescent Creek with Colver, Amy, Eric, Jason and Becca
Random biking adventures on the Coastal Trail solo style
Hiking towards Hidden Lake with Amy and Eric (as well as a bit of solo run around Wolverine)
Impromptu bad movie night while eating BBQ at Cate and Darren's (Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Flashdance)
Dinner party over at _ _ _ _ _'s place
Other randomness throughout

This weekend was important for many reasons. The biggest of those reasons had to be the fact that I finally escaped from a POW camp that I'd been in for years (see top of the page) and that Eric finally made the leap from "Padawan Learner" to full out "Jedi." Way to go Dollface!

Really though, it wasn't important, it was just a ton of fun. The greatness of Memorial Day Weekend is always multiplied by how sunny and warm it is out, and this weekend was sunny the whole time and warm as all get out. Memorial Day Weekend was a flawless victory of awesome. Amy's return upped the ante even more, leading to many outdoor ventures including a most triumphant camping trip to Crescent Creek and some outstanding hikes.

Her return combined with the beautiful summer has led me to also basically live outside, slowly but surely transitioning me into a skin tone that I can only describe as "Farmer's Adonis" (in my mind, Adonis was really tan. I am extremely tan, but only in a farmer's tan sort of way. Hence, Farmer's Adonis...it works, I swears it). This weekend was a superb representation of that, turning my strong tan into an intense, potentially-indicative-of-George-Hamilton-style-efforts one.

While this has led me to completely abandon my blog (my bad guys!), it's totally worth it as May was full of fantastic in every way, culminating in a ridiculously great Memorial Day Weekend. Here's hoping the rest of the summer matches up. One way or another, you'll be able to find out here, as The Weekend Edition is now back in action.

Happy Birthday Amy Steele!

2010-06-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

Today Amy Steele turns 26, much to the excitement of friends and family of Amy Steele (and less so to herself). While she may call me "Fat Mute" and nearly everything that comes from her mouth may come across as sarcastic, I still miss her musk when she's not around. Happy birthday Amy, and congrats on being old as all get out.

As far as the blog is concerned, May was a lost month, but I feel strongly in the idea that I'm going to get back into blogging now. I'm going to call it now - 30 posts, 30 days in June!

Top 5 Albums of April 2010

2010-05-11T08:22:00.001-08:00

I'm going to make a bold attempt starting now at getting back in the swing of things in terms of blogging about things that aren't comic related (although that continues to go very well). I feel like I've been in a funk when it comes to the blogging business, but I'll be making my triumphant return assuming Alaska doesn't continue our freakishly good springtime weather. I'm resembling a tan person right now...I fear it.

No less, 2010 continues to be an awesome year for music, and April brought two of the best of the year so far. Well, it brought them to my hands...not to music stores. One you'll have to wait for, the other you can get whenever. But the rest of the month was pretty damn quality as well. Check out my five favorite from the month below.

Note: Lala is being shutdown on May 31st (boooo!) so I will not be including samples from each album here. Sadly.

1(a). LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening

Why it's number one (a): This was my most anticipated album of 2010. James Murphy (aka the mastermind behind DFA and LCD Soundsystem) crafted what is probably one of my favorite two or three songs on his last album Sounds of Silver (the track is "All My Friends"), as well as a number of other tracks that continue to enthrall me to this day. That album finished just outside of the top ten on my "Best Albums of the 00's" list, and it continues to grow on me.

This album may lack the immediacy of tracks like "Friends" or "North American Scum", but there is a patience and a power that really blends what worked so well on the first two albums from LCD. You've got tracks like opener "Dance Yrself Clean" that builds slowly with just Murphy's voice and minimal instruments for over 3 minutes until it kicks into a rip roaring jam that almost requires fist pumping. Lead single "Drunk Girls" brings you in with a Licensed to Ill era Beastie Boys chorus, but really when you get down to it we've got a disco flashback track that dares you to not tap your toes.

While those two tracks are very, very good, and the rest that surround them are solid as well, there are two songs in particular that reflect what is so special about LCD as a music creating entity: "I Can Change" and "Pow Pow". "Change" is a very thoughtful and emotional song that still manages to exist as a crafty jam that makes you want to belt out the vocals along with Murphy. The ideas he shares are pretty traditional, but there is something to be said for his method of delivery that makes it work so well.

Then, you have "Pow Pow". This guy is a throwback to "Losing My Edge" off LCD's debut album. Not so much in the actual meaning (althoug he is calling out SOMEONE in this song, not just Michael Musto), but in the very fun sing-speak delivery and the NYC disco vibe. I have a rule as well that states that gang vocals are always fun, and when Murphy's backing band joins in on some moments, it really escalates the track. The whole thing is a track that accelerates through repetition, increasing the power of it until I quickly realize it's my favorite track on the album. On an album in which I find myself loving. So, yeah, you got that going for you "Pow Pow".

1(b). Delorean - Subiza

Why it's number one (b): Here's a text exchange between my friend Erik and I to explain why this album rules:

Erik: "Subiza by Delorean is such a fantastic sunny day album."

Me: "I know. I've been listening to it all day while biking. It's one of my absolute favorites this year."

Erik: "This year's Passion Pit! It's in my top three this year I'd say."

Me: "I think it's more Cut Copy ish. I call it Cut Copy 2K10."

Erik: "Mmmm I see that. Def has the heavy vocoder use of Passion Pit though."

Me: "True. Passion Pit x Cut Copy x 2010 = David Love."

Yeah. That sounds about right. If you like albums that make you want to dance, sing along, and drive with the windows down, this album is for you. If you hate fun, life, and good times...stay away. It's that simple.

3. The Apples in Stereo - Travellers in Space and Time

Why it's number three: My favorite parts of The Apples in Stereo's last full album New Magnetic Wonder were the seriously poppy tracks like "7 Stars" and "Sunddal Song", as they were so effortlessly sunny and full of life that they were irresistable to yours truly. So when I heard that they had come out with an album in which they fully embraced their Electric Light Orchestra tendencies and made an entire album of tracks like that, I found myself smiling ear to ear to the prospect.

Since I acquired that album, I've been spinning it on near constant rotation. Tracks like "No Vacation" (oh god that song is good), "Dance Floor", and "Hey Elevator" should make it on to everyone's summer mixtapes - they're perfect for sunny days and good times, but in an entirely different way than Delorean. More of a classic way.

Some Apples fans may be upset about the perceived simplification of their sound, but if you deny this record on the basis of a band trying to make a fun album that everyone could love, well...you're not much of a fan at all.

4. The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme

Why it's number four: This album is...not summer-y. Thanks for ruining the theme The Radio Dept.! You're a bunch of jerks! Morose ones at that.

But that's okay, because you make some really pretty music. Pretty and oddly hypnotic music that can be fun in its own right at times. The best example of that is "Heaven's On Fire", a track that starts out with a quote about rock and roll and how it is monopolized by big business, and then quickly jumps into a fun and glittering jam that sucks you in with some rather seductive bass lines. It's hard to explain, but easy to experience...once you get your first hit of it, it's hard to quit. They're like a Swedish drug kingpins, and their pharmaceutical of choice is excellent, dark pop tracks.

Consider myself hooked and enthused with The Radio Dept. It is a very unique and attractive album that is a nice change of pace for the days of rain this summer.

5. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Why it's number five: I have a horrible admission to make.

I've never really been a big Broken Social Scene fan.

They have some tracks I like. I like the members of the collective. I like the ideas they convey. I just haven't liked the execution and often find them...boring.

Yet their effort this year, an album called Forgiveness Rock Record, sort of snuck up on me. It did in two ways as I had no idea it was coming out (I should have known, given that they are playing at Sasquatch this year) and that it is just a damn good album with all of elements from the band meshing together to form a cohesive whole.

It is a diverse blend of all of the musicians that helps take this to the top of their discography, as well as a new found cohesion and pop-centric focus. This is bar none the most radio friendly collection of tracks I've heard from them, with songs like "All in All" and its pretty female vocals and bubbly synth backgrounds sending the track deep into your brain and "Texico Bitches" with its peppy rhythm driving the vocals to another level...these are not your...slightly older siblings Broken Social Scene.

Not only that, but this is a long record filled with an eclectic mix of genres touched. There really is a little something for everyone here, and it'd be a shame if you missed it like I almost did. If you weren't a BSS fan before, there is a more than decent chance you will be after this album.

Ra Ra Riot in Anchorage

2010-05-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

While I do have some major issues with the base setup of First Tap events at Bear Tooth in Anchorage, Alaska (the bulk of which came out in a discussion with my friend Stephanie), I'd be lying if I didn't say that they sometimes give us some pretty damn kickin' shows. This past Thursday was a particularly good example of that, as indie favorites Ra Ra Riot came into town and assailed Alaskan eyes and ears with the fun tunes and energetic live shows that have long been well known to those from the contiguous United States.

While the less said about the two opening acts, the better (a DJ who acts like he's god's gift to music named Alex the Lion that just knows how to press enter on a MacBook Pro, and The Smile Ease, a band who has no idea who they are), Ra Ra Riot had an air about them. They seemed like seasoned veterans who haven't lost their love for what they do yet. Sometimes a band can sound tight and good, but they clearly are going through the motions and not having a good time.

Definitely not the case for Ra Ra Riot.

They were smart in their setlist design, sticking to tracks that are more crowd pleasing and keeping the audience eating from their hands the whole time. The only real downer from the set was when the vocals went out at the beginning of "Can You Tell?" and I missed my favorite part of my favorite song. Besides that, it was all dancing and singalongs from yours truly, with a side of winking at their gorgeous string section. Hot!

If you get the opportunity, definitely check out Ra Ra Riot. They're a heck of a good time live, and they make some damn fine music too.

Vacation: Let's Wrap This Up!

2010-05-03T21:58:00.000-08:00

Man, I've been slacking lately. Too much socializing, not enough blogging makes David a bad person at wrapping up vacation posts!

So I'm going to wrap up my vacation write ups with a greatest hits of the rest of the trip. It really was, in many ways, the perfect David vacation. Amazing live music, a baseball game, beaches, tons of sunlight, randomness, incredible food, and a great companion for all of it in Joanne. What more could I ask for?

Here's all of the awesome, bit by bit.

Randomness Highway: Some people when they go to and from places just accept roads as roads and as a means to an end. I'm often one of those people. And by often, I mean always - I'm an efficiency expert of traveling.

Joanne is...not one of those people. She stops and takes pictures of everything. She enjoys everything. She finds humor in everything. She makes me stop at...everything.

You'd think this would infuriate me and turn me into some sort of efficiency obsessed Hulk, but in reality, I loved it. Our trip back to San Diego from Coachella was a leisurely saunter, as we stopped from place to place taking random pictures that we noted that we needed to take on our drive up from San Diego originally. Sure, it made the drive way longer than it could have been. But time is meant to be spent on experiences, and lil' Miss Joanne reminded me of that. Thanks!

Eating Good in the Neighborhood: Whenever my parents go off in their yearly venture across the nation in their motorhome, I always tell them that they should make a map based around Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and stop at each and every place they come by that he's been to. Why? Because eating is awesome, especially when it comes with a side of delicious.

Subscribing to that theory, I made Joanne agree to let me go to Triple D sanctioned locations in San Diego, as we stopped by HoDad's in Ocean Beach and El Indio near the airport (conveniently so!). HoDad's happened to be right on the corner of Bacon St. and it was famed for its bacon cheeseburgers - it was destiny. As I told Joanne, "this is a burger of destiny." We got to that wonderfully kitschy restaraunt, sat down, ordered a beer, fries, onion rings, and a double cheeseburger with bacon (I AM ALL THAT IS MAN!), and then got down to business. When I took a bite out of this enormous burger, all I could taste was destiny. Destiny...thy name is bacon! It was a hell of a thing, and after I wiped it out of existence in precious minutes, I paid and told the restaraunt employee that I ate it in a matter of minutes.

He was shocked.

"It's kind of what I do."

Apparently most people can't even finish it. My bad!

El Indio was less exciting, as it turned out to be a long standing but not amazing Mexican restaraunt. Sure, everything was super legit and authentic, but most everything also didn't taste that great. In fact, their vaunted corn tortillas that Fieri went on and on about were kind of flavorless. The fish tacos were solid besides that, but I'd rather go to Bear Tooth any day of the week to be honest. Their salsas were good but unimpressive in comparison to their reputation, and as Joanne said, their chips were overly hard. It wasn't a terrible experience because it was pretty cheap, but it wasn't a milestone location by any means.

Newport Pizza was however, even if it didn't make it on Triple D. This beach bum down the street from HoDad's provided a Moose's Tooth Lite menu with cool pizza names like "The Hulk" or "Ron Jeremy." Needless to say, the latter was heavy in sausage. They also played fantastic music (Joanne and I had a blast singing along to every word of Girl Talk's Feed the Animals) and they had one of my favorite beers - Avery's Maharaja IPA - along with 62 billion other varieties of beers.

I do not overstate their beer selection.

Shopping: I HATE shopping. I cannot state that loudly enough. Shopping puts me into a trance like state and slowly kills me as a person.

However, I do really enjoy pawn, antique, vintage clothing, comic, and book shops, and that is pretty much all Ocean Beach and Encinitas had to offer.

I picked up a bunch of hard to find comics, Joanne picked up an antique coffee grinder, we found all kinds of random awesomeness and looked through epic postcard and record collections, and we just had a blast going to these random joints. Sure, most of their stuff was random crap. But it was ancient, second hand random crap that was often hilarious and nearly always awesome. I mean, look at the hat I'm wearing. Admittedly, no hat fits me right, but that hat REALLY doesn't fit me. C'est la vie.

Beachery: Joanne and I, being from Alaska, desperately craved sunlight when we went down to California. We hit up the beaches for napping, reading, sand castle making, and lots of relaxing, and it was pretty much amazing. This type of thing was completely necessary, as I recharged my solar batteries Wall-E style during these sessions.

Plus, we got to come up with sand castles and stories behind our castle making. As you may be able to see in my picture, my castle has a moat, cannon ramparts, and an olympic sized pool in front of it with a KRAKEN! It also says "Release the Kraken!" in the sand next to it. This remains to be the only thing of merit I have taken from Clash of the Titans.

Baseball!: On our last full day, I decided I had to attend a baseball game while I was in a real city. Of course, the real city happened to feature the once lowly San Diego Padres (not to mention punchless) as they faced off against the NL West leading San Francisco Giants. It wasn't a marquee pitching matchup, but I did mange to get awesome third baseline seats on the cheap. I did have to attend by myself because of other engagements and the game was kind of a snoozer (1-0, with the Padres winning when they only had one hit), but all in all I'm glad I went. It ended up being cool because two of the top ten plays from that night's Sportscenter were featured at my game. Yeah!

Coachella: Day Three

2010-04-28T20:55:00.002-08:00

My wrap up of the third day of Coachella is now here, and I'm sad to see it go just like I was to see the festival itself go. While I was significantly more broken because of my weak body after this festival in comparison to others, it was definitely the best festival I've ever been to musically speaking, and probably the most well arranged as well. Not to say the others weren't great, it's just to say Coachella was that ridiculously awesome. I really think it's an event that needs to be checked off in life like any other experience...went to Coachella...check. I've done that now, and it makes me very happy to say that. Before we get into the bands though, I wanted to talk about one other random thing from the weekend.

Arts and Crafts Tent: Joanne and I were EXTREMELY enthused with the arts and crafts tent. When you wander from the booze soaked campgrounds, past the techno tent, through the vendors, and to the other side of the roller skating rink, you get to a tent where people are drawing portraits of strangers, creating new apparel to wear, and designing their own zines (amongst other things). Sure, they play music, but really in a lot of ways it feels like an entirely different world than the one that surrounds it. It's people sitting around being creative and meeting each other and just having a wonderful time.

When Joanne and I went, we sat down to do portraits of each other. We followed the suggestions they had at the table, in which we interview each other to get a better feel of what to draw. Given that we were supposed to be strangers, I created an entirely different persona for Joanne. This didn't help, as I was sunburned, needed a shave, and was wearing glasses. Essentially I looked like a disgusting, nerdy yeti. Still, it was a damn good time, and it gave me an excuse to draw dragons, flying penguins, and a smiling sun in the background of Joanne's portrait.

After that we went to design our zines. This was also a good time, but I started feeling BAD around then, so I went back to take a nap while Joanne grew increasingly in love with the place to the point that she almost skipped half the day to hang out there. Thankfully they shut it down at 2, so in your face Joanne! You had to watch awesome music with me! HA!

Still, this was a very welcome change of pace to the music and party centric weekend we had been dealing with.

Bands Seen: Gorillaz, Deerhunter, Owen Pallett, Local Natives, Jonsi, Phoenix, Julian Casablancas, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Plastikman, Thom Yorke, Yo La Tengo

Local Natives: This was the first band we caught on the final day, and one of the bands that I was most excited about from it as well. I've really been digging their new album Gorilla Manor, and they managed to nail all of the tracks I heard them play. They had a really tight sound that did what live music should do - take their recorded music and build on it. The fact that they took that and closed with a particularly rousing version of my favorite track by them (a song called "Sun Hands") really sealed the deal on this being a great performance, and even had Joanne asking about them (she'd never heard them before, so it was a pretty big deal).

I also enjoyed how humble they were, as they thanked the audience and shared their surprise that anyone would be watching them while Owen Pallett was playing. It was worth what we missed of Owen Pallett, even though...

Owen Pallett: (continued from Local Natives) Owen Pallett himself was awesome. Pallett is perhaps more well known as the string arranger for Arcade Fire or as Final Fantasy (his solo name before going by his own name), but to me, I was really excited just to see Pallett classic. I love Heartland, his solo album from this year, and to see him perform his dense tracks from that album with just an effects pedal and a violin often. He played a really nice mix of his collected works, but closing with my favorite track "Tryst with Mephistopheles" really made me love his set. Also, Joanne later told me that he was her third favorite set from the weekend. Given that she knew nothing about him before then, that's some great praise for the guy. Highly recommended.

Jonsi: This is the closest I've ever gotten to see Sigur Ros, so getting to see Jonsi was an astonishingly glorious moment for me. Sigur Ros is my favorite band, and to see their lead singer sing in his hauntingly gorgeous voice was enough to fill me with a mix of pure glee and sadness over never seeing Sigur Ros (or at least not yet). He performed tracks from his new album Go, and he and his band were fully ready to blow everyone away. They did not disappoint, especially for the stage spectacle (Jonsi and his drummer's costumes were hugely entertaining) and the versatility of the band (nearly everyone switched instruments at least once, sometimes in the middle of songs). It was quite the moment for me, and it made me about as happy as any artist did over the weekend.

One downer: we were checking out the merch tent later on when I saw Jonsi signing and talking to fans. It turns out you needed a special ticket to make this happen, even though I was five feet away and as excited as I've ever been to see someone. It was quite a bit of a bummer, but not the biggest bummer of the night. Oh lord no.

Phoenix: Holy crap.

Holy crap holy crap holy crap.

To say Joanne and I had a good time at Phoenix is the understatement of the festival. Joanne was adamant in saying that they were the best she saw all weekend, and I find it hard to disagree. They played a lot of material, they played it incredibly well, they had impeccable setlist design (I loved them starting with "Listzomania" and closing with "1901"), and they were just very charming guys. The audience was in a perpetual state of what would most likely be called euphoria, and from what I understand it was one of the largest audiences of the entire weekend (sorry Pavement!).

In a weekend of artists missing Coachella because of the Icelandic volcano, Phoenix was not one of them, but their light crew was. Their lighting was non-existent/plain, but it didn't matter - it just motivated them to rock even more. The whole place was an explosion of dancing and singing along up front, and lead singer Thomas Mars frequently came down to the crowd to sing directly for us all. As cool as light shows and videos and spectacle is, quite often a straight up awesome performance can be all it takes to really make an audience love you.

Phoenix is a band that demands that you love them, and I was blown away by their performance at Coachella 2010.

Yann Tiersen: This hurts to even talk about. Yann Tiersen was one of the artists I was most excited about, and I really could not wait to see him. The biggest problem was the fact that he was playing at the same time as Gorillaz, but I was willing to sacrifice some of their set to see him. I like him that much.

However, remember that volcano I just mentioned? It made Gary Numan cancel, opening up a set time that started around the ending of Phoenix and ending before Thom Yorke - aka the only gap we had the entire night. They moved Tiersen to that time slot but didn't announce it, and I wouldn't have even noticed it if it weren't for us walking by the Mojave Stage's schedule between Thom Yorke and Plastikman. I was pretty much inconsolable, and all Joanne could do is hug me.

I know this is a stupid thing to be super sad about, but it REALLY bummed me out.

Thom Yorke: Sadly enough, we didn't spend a lot of time watching Thom, but what we did see was really enjoyable. I heard him play my favorite tracks off his solo album The Eraser ("The Eraser" and "Black Swan") and we came back just in time to hear him play stripped down versions of Radiohead classics "Airbag" and "Everything In It's Right Place", so really, that's all I wanted to hear from him. Not that Thom isn't always good, especially with a unique backing band of Flea, Nigel Godrich, and more, but I'd seen Radiohead before and never had the opportunity to see Plastikman. Still, beautiful stuff from Thom, but that's what we've come to expect from the guy.

Plastikman: Joanne and I mostly wanted to go to this because of Lucy and Morgan recommending Plastikman throughout the weekend, and to see what exactly his performance specific iPhone app would do. It was our curiosity that drove us there, and it was a really interesting and intense performance. Plastikman (an electronic outfit, btw) was encircled by a cage of sorts that displayed his lightshow, and it was very hypnotic to watch. Paired with his miminalist and pulsing music, and it was downright entrancing. The iPhone app was...not as much. We didn't really understand it, as all it did was some bizarre counter that spouted gibberish to us.

Still, it was a worthy venture and something I'm glad we checked out if only for a little bit.

Gorillaz: My most anticiplated headliner. The band I'd been waiting all weekend to see. They were...good.

You can watch the video above and sense the excitement that was in the crowd. It was palpable throughout the beginning, and something that really got the audience buzzing. However, part of the way through the set while they were playing mostly Plastic Beach tracks (and slower ones at that), the audience started not paying attention and they started to lose them. People would leave, reactions would be compulsory (not because they wanted to), and when it came time for an encore cheer, the audience could barely muster an effort.

Which is a shame, because the spectacle of their show was grand (the videos were awesome, as you can see above), they sounded pretty much perfect, and they played a really nice mix of their music with a lot of cool guest stars (Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Bobby Womack, De La Soul, Little Dragon). I really enjoyed it, but the fact that almost the entire audience was dead while I was singing along to all of the big moments Damon Albarn was giving us (that guy was a gem, I have to add) was kind of disappointing. Part of that was their fault because of setlist design (they picked maybe the worst encore closer I've ever heard), but still, the audience clearly was there to party and they didn't get what they wanted.

It was a really nice performance, but something that was really hard to get into. The oddest thing was later I heard people saying things about how amazing their performance was when all we heard from people around us were complaints and all we saw were confused faces. From a band that to date has been a cartoon one, it's unsurprising I suppose. It's still a shame that they prove themselves as a remarkably legitimate band at this performance and are received with what amounts to global hipster indifference.

The Aftermath: The next morning we woke up bright and early to depart before everyone else woke up, and as we started gathering our things we heard something in the distance that sounded like a group of people shouting "too legit! too legit!" We of course had to investigate, especially considering it was right next to the coffee stand. As we got closer we noticed a huge group of people (pictured above) who randomly split into a circle, at which point one person split off and ran inside of that circle to high five everyone else. As he high fived people, they'd split off and follow him in the high five onslaught. It was hilarious.

We stood and watched for a bit and talked to security, who was absolutely delighted with what was happening. I asked how long they'd been doing this, and they responded with "all night in different places across the campsite. They don't really bother anyone, unless someone comes near, at which point they make them dance. I'd take a wide circle from them."

We laughed and went over to the coffee shop that was near them, when we heard the shouting of "DO A DANCE! DO A DANCE!" Apparently a pair of flies fell into their spider web, as two girls continued walking to their tent while dancing. Then as we were leaving, they actually stopped a car, encircled it, and shouted "DO A DANCE! DO A DANCE!" until the people got out and...did a dance. It was hilarious. It was quite the unifying partying moment, and I was proud to see it. Perfect way to end Coachella really, with dancing and a little bit of ridiculousness.

Coachella: Day Two

2010-04-26T20:49:00.001-08:00

Day Two of Coachella started with no shower, lazing about the campsite, and having absolutely, astonishingly ridiculous conversations with Morgan, Lucy and Joanne while eating and drinking coffee. Here's a prime example: while we were discussing Justin Bieber and his relationship with Usher randomly, we managed to create a fictional pop star named Megatron Bieber-Raymond. His popularity would be entirely derived from Facebook, he would have hour long conversations with Usher, and he would (will?) be the closing act to Coachella 2011.

He's also Morgan.

Just to really seal the deal that this idea was fated and that we had to make it happen, while Joanne and I were perusing the arts and crafts tent (more on this later), we came across a newspaper that did just that. There was a copy of the LA Times that actually had Usher's face on it. I gleefully stole it from the tent and skipped back to show it to Morgan and Lucy.

Okay, there may not have been any skipping involved, but still...awesome!

Anyways, that just helped verify that Morgan and Lucy were perfect neighbors. Come on, as you can see to the left, they even shared food with me - delicious food like a mexican egg dish with avocado and Indian candy (smoked salmon with some brown sugar love) They really helped the weekend become all it could be, in a decidedly not army like way.

Fashionistas: Before I get into the music from the day, I have to note one thing Joanne and I went on and on about throughout the weekend: the fashion. Joanne and I are not the most fashionable people in the world, and the mixes of bizarre hair choices, animal hats, and interesting shirt choices (or in the Wolfman's case, poncho choices) surprised us early and often. In their eyes, we were extremely not fashionable. In our eyes, they looked ridiculous.

The apex of their self design based hilarity had to be the fleets of people wearing Indian headdresses while dancing and acting generally...authentic. In an entertaining way, mind you, but it was still bizarre to see hipsters dancing in circles with feathers flowing around their head.

Bands Seen: Muse, Tokyo Police Club, The xx, Hot Chip, Portugal. The Man, Old Crow Medicine Show, MGMT, Major Lazer, Girls, Beach House, Die Antwoord, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Camera Obscura

Portugal. The Man: Whenever I see Portugal. The Man, it's a treat. To see them with BY FAR the largest audience I've ever witnessed for a PTM show as well as perhaps the most raucous was a hell of a treat, and they really brought their A game. They played a nice mix of new and old material, threw in some covers (MGMT's "Weekend Wars" and a mini-cover of Ghostface Killah's "Kilo"), and still jammed without losing the crowd of potential PTM newbies. It was pretty damn solid work, but at this point I really expect nothing less from Alaska's favorite musical sons.

Beach House: There were a number of bands we saw this weekend that were a bit slower like Beach House is, and they managed to not make nearly the mark Beach House did. This is a band who performs near perfect renditions of their songs, beautifully hitting all of the high notes off their discography but especially the ones off this year's Teen Dream. Victoria LeGrand hit all of the notes she needed to and provided one of the more interesting stage presences of the weekend, looking like a tussled Joni Mitchell and dominating the stage like she might as well. A very nice performance.

The xx: Oh my...The xx. I love this band, as they took fourth place in my 2009 albums list and also my heart in their performance. When a band sounds so good that Jay Z and Beyonce show up to watch your set, you probably have a good idea that you're doing okay. This band sounded pretty damn flawless, especially given their somewhat recent downgrade from being a four piece to a three piece. They went through most of their self titled album, and even threw in a cover that seemingly is often played, given that the dude next to us was completely adamant that they would play it.

I have to note: we skipped Dirty Projectors to watch all of The xx and to have a good spot for Hot Chip. There are some things I regret (not) doing from the weekend, but that was most definitely not one of them.

Hot Chip: When listening to this band, it's hard for me to envision them being able to successfully pull off every aspect of their sound. Their tracks are often really robust and layered multi-instrumental jaunts that seem very difficult to recreate, but I guess that is why they are the professionals. Hot Chip weaved in and out of their discography, nailing oldies but goodies like "Ready for the Floor" (the set closer) and "Over and Over", while also taking us through the faster pieces from their new album One Life Stand.

These guys were geniuses of live performances, and one of my absolute favorites from the weekend. From the just absurdly tight sound they demonstrated, to the multi-instrumental genius they displayed (everyone in the band seemingly rotated instrument to instrument at will, with steel drums even being performed live), to the impeccable set design...I was just floored by them. Plus, they managed to exceed their recorded quality, taking a track like One Life Stand's closer "Take It In", which has immediately leapt from an album favorite to perhaps one of my favorite one or two tracks from 2010 to date.

In short, Hot Chip went from being a band I liked to a band I love. That's how you know it was a good live performance.

MGMT: As a person who only really likes part of their much loved debut Oracular Spectacular and someone who doesn't really enjoy Congratulations, I wasn't very excited for this. I figured to stay for a bit and then to roll to Major Lazer, but my faithful compatriot Joanne wanted to stay so she could catch "Kids", a track she completely and utterly adores. Given that she'd been such a trooper to date, I had to give her at least that.

Of course, MGMT didn't, as they managed to play for nearly an hour and not play their most popular track as well as the one track that the entire audience was clamoring for. They also managed to completely lose the audience any time they played a new track (if that isn't a review of it's quality, I don't know what it is), and their lead singer had perhaps the most awkward stage presence I've ever heard. I'd say I was disappointed if I didn't kind of expect it. To their fans though, they might as well have help up a middle finger while they walked off stage.

Major Lazer: I don't want to say anything besides Major Lazer is ridiculously awesome and only videos do justice. Also, one other thing.

Daggering.

Muse: Once upon a time, Muse was at the tip top of my "most anticipated live performances" list. A pretty mediocre album passed, and now I was a bit less excited, but the mere fact that they are such damn exceptional performers made it impossible to not be stoked still. By this point Joanne and I were broken people who could barely move, so we actually sat during this set. While it was a nice enough set, roaming through their discography ("Stockholm Syndrome" was definitely my favorite) much to the audience's delight, it didn't really have a serious hook for me as both a fan and as a viewer of live music. Nothing really jumped off the page to me.

Die Antwoord: Speaking of jumping off the page, when we met up with Morgan and Lucy for South Africa's Die Antwoord, we had no idea what to expect. We heard they spoke in Afrikaans, we heard they were weird, and we heard it should be really fun. Check, check and check.

Really, nothing can prepare you for Die Antwoord. It's an exercise in the pinnacle of absurdity, except with cool beats and strangely fun vocals. They are comprised of Yo-Landi Vi$$er (a tiny woman with a blonde mullet and a voice like a smurf), Ninja (he is obsessed with being a ninja), and DJ Hi-Tek (he isn't that interesting), and they are the oddest trio ever. One of their tracks is all about being a ninja, and about how Ninja is in fact a ninja, and he'll routinely say things like "I'm a ninja!" as Yo-Landi shouts behind him in smurfish "he's a ninja!" It was basically a bad movie night in music form, and it was pretty much amazing.

Added bonus: Ninja illustrates all of the drawings that go up on the screens during the set, and they are alternately the worst and most hilarious pictures ever. For full enjoyment, read the About section on their website. That's what we all did when we got back, because Die Antwoord practically demands it.

2ManyDJ's: We didn't actually watch this electronic outfit, much to the chagrin of the guy next to us who exclaimed that they were "brothers" and "the greatest house duo ever" because of that fact. We actually were just staying after Die Antwoord specifically to find out how many DJ's are too many.

Sadly, it turns out it was just two.

The Weekend Edition

2010-04-26T08:44:00.002-08:00

This weekend was my triumphant return to Anchorage after my Coachella trip, and realistically I probably should have taken it easy. Taking it easy is overrated. What went down?

Don Jose's with Colver and Lorna
Broken Lizard at Wendy Williamson
Drinks at Firetap with Lorna, Colver, Amy, Cate and Eric
Classy times at an establishment with the initials GABC
Breakfast with Amy and Justin at Snow City
Slush Cup 2010!
Destroying my tire like a freaking idiot on the return from Slush Cup
Shutter Island at Bear Tooth with my mom and sister
Breakfast with sister at Middle Way Cafe
Leisurely writing day that led into a leisurely night of catching up on comics and TV

So the weekend was busy, busy, busy with the exception of my Sunday which was about as lazy as you can get (except for my work out - my near constant consumption of food and no working out was getting to me).

The highlight of the weekend was definitely the Slush Cup, which is something that happens every year in Alaska yet I'd never attended. Count that one checked off, as this year Colver and I went and met up with Amy and Justin to have a couple beers and watch some people eat it as they try to make it over a pool on skis and snowboards.

The weird thing about it is the whole exercise is significantly less interesting when the contestants actually make it across. Ideally, they eat it much to the entertainment of yours truly. Well, that's not true. Ideally, they do something insane (i.e. a back flip) and manage to somehow still make it across as their body skips across the water like a really svelte rock. When that happened at this year's Slush Cup, the audience as a whole lost their minds like Jesus just scored the game winning touchdown for the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl (because let's face it, Jesus would be a Patriot).

It was a good time, and it was also entertaining for the mere fact that it was the single biggest collective of attractive people I've seen in Alaska ever. Now I know where everyone has been hiding...on mountains on long sticks attached to their feet. No wonder why I never see them.

Coachella: Day Zero and Day One

2010-04-25T13:59:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, my Facebook wife Joanne and I ventured down to California to go to Coachella Music Festival 2010 and then to roam around San Diego soaking in the summer sun. It was shockingly an awesome time, as it combined a few of my favorite things (live music, ridiculousness, warmth) into one major undertaking. I loved every minute of it.

I'm going to give a walkthrough on everyone I saw of interest, along with everyone I saw in a given day and other tidbits of ridiculousness. Today, I have the first day, along with pictures from the party the night before. Note: if you are allergic to awesome, go no further in this post. It's all chronological as well.

Bands Seen: Jay Z, Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem, Passion Pit, She & Him, DJ Lance Rock, Baroness, Wale, The Avett Brothers, Grizzly Bear, La Roux, Yeasayer

The Pre Party: Joanne and I managed to make it into San Diego around noon the day before the festival thanks to some creative clock reading and mismanagement of time (aka we missed our plane). After hopping to it and gathering food and drink for the weekend at local stores, we started our surprisingly quick jaunt to Indio from there.

Once we actually got into Indio, it was like we had made it into some sort of hipster convention. Cars were painted with "Carpoolchella 2010", the level of fashion shot through the roof, and the percentage of men with facial hair went from roughly 30% to 99.9% (I beard proof any situation). Still, fun was in the air, and Joanne and I stopped by a local store for toys to play with in our down time and for a beer at a local coffee shop (Just Java served delicious beer as well!).

That's when the insanity began: none of Coachella's staff that we ran into early in the day had any clue as to what was going on. We were being herded like cattle from place to place (often the wrong place no less), and by the time we got into the car check for the correct campsite, it was pretty much fashionista pandemonium. Party people surrounded us in VW buses, cars loaded with beer, people, and little else, and the airwaves were overloaded with a mass juxtaposition of indie friendly choices. The security lines moved rather glacially, as they appeared to be checking every car for every conceivable object. Of course, they quickly realized this took a LONG time so they opened it up to the point where they literally just opened our doors and let us in.

Thanks security!

We set up camp, and quickly introduced ourselves to our neighbors for the weekend. With beer in our hands. Glorious beer.

This next bit was the exploratory phase of the evening, as we roamed the campsite with a sack full of beer. First the techno tent (DJ's spinning in a dance tent until 3 am every night), then to the vendors selling foods and various applicable possessions. One such example was Walker, a man who was ridiculously cool and sold hammocks. Joanne and I quite liked him and tried to coerce him into coming to Alaska for the Forest Fair, to which he responded with sentiments of "far out" and the like.

They even had a tent set up just for playing pinball! How cool is this place? It's like heaven for me.

Basically, the rest of the night was Joanne and I acting a damn fool, her crowdsurfing for the first time and nearly breaking herself in the process, lots of dancing, picture taking, and varying degrees of insanity. This would be the only night we partied, for reasons that will quickly become aware.

The Next Morning: Remember the colossal mess at security? Security ain't got nothin' on the shower scene. I waited for 2 hours to shower the first day, and Joanne waited FOUR HOURS. The good news was during that 2 hour window where we were separated, I befriended our ridiculously cool neighbors Morgan and Lucy (husband and wife from LA by way of Boston). They became a staple for our mornings and early afternoons, and thankfully guided us to a number of acts that ended up being massively entertaining, including the second one I'm going to talk about. Speaking of music...

Day One BEGINS!

Baroness: I don't really listen to metal. It's not really my style, but when I hear good metal, I appreciate it for what it is. Baroness is good metal. They were raw badassery injected into a sea of tight pants, ironic mustaches, and indian headdresses (more on that later), and I was really entertained by their antics. While we only stayed for a couple songs, I'm really glad I checked them out, if only for the entertainment value of long hair being gloriously headbanged into submission. I quickly texted my friend Darren after hearing them, as he is Mr. Metal, and Mr. Metal needs to know about the awesome these guys bring to the table.

DJ Lance Rock: This was one of the acts that Morgan and Lucy guided us to, and we had no idea to expect. DJ Lance Rock was in the Sahara Tent, which is the dance tent and would likely be electronic. It was, and it was GLORIOUS and hilarious.

Turns out DJ Lance Rock is the guy who runs the show Yo Gabba Gabba, a kids show that also draws the eye of the hipster community. Basically, every song was about kid things like peas being covertly delicious, how hugging is awesome, and all kinds of really random things. What happened on stage was about as joyous of an event as you can imagine, as all of the characters came out to dance during Lance Rock's set much to our delight. Brobee, Plex, and all of the rest of the gang danced their weird little feet off, and even though I wouldn't call it amazing music, it was about as life affirming of a moment as you could possibly get out of this cynical and hip crowd.

The Avett Brothers: While I recognize openly that The Avett Brothers are very good for what they do (countryfied singer/songwriter type stuff), I also openly admit that it's not for me. I just have never been able to get into their music.

However, I decided that we should stop by and check them out because a) they could be cool live and b) they seemed to fit Joanne's taste in music. Sure enough, both a and b were correct, as I had a very good time listening to their unique blend of music. It was good time music from a band I expected bummer time music from, and for that they get my seal of approval. Nice work Avett Brothers.

Yeasayer: This was the first crowd that really blew me away, as two years ago at Sasquatch we watched this band on the main stage early on one of the days with almost no audience. Now they are playing on the fourth biggest stage to a filled to the brim tent with extra people hanging out on the sides at 4:20 in the afternoon (there was A LOT of people who participated in that time honored tradition when the band started). It was pretty crazy.

Overall, Yeasayer sounded pretty good, although starting their set with an extended version of their latest album's opener "The Children" was definitely a way to disconnect me earlier on. It just comes across as creepy live. However, when they played all of my favorites ("O.N.E.", "Sunrise", "Ambling Alp" and "Tightrope" to close? Yes!) it was a pretty damn good time. I was very surprised to find out that their guitarist/keyboardist (pictured far left) actually was the owner of the sweet voice on all of my favorite tracks of their's.

This was also the first location where we saw someone collapse out of a combination of dehydration (party much?) and heat exhaustion. It would not be the last.

She & Him: While I do not love these guys recorded (I like Volume One and kind of abhor Volume Two), I had a wonderful time watching them live. The biggest reason had to be Zooey Deschanel, actress and lead singer of this group. She had perhaps the most effervescent and bubbly personality I've ever seen out of a live singer, and it was just a joy to watch her as she took us on a tour through all of their tracks.

M. Ward was pretty entertaining himself, as he had the look and feel of a bluesy solo star from the 60's, and when they played together on the keyboard toward the ends of their set, it was a real highlight for interactions between a band. Their band was filled with some grungy looking session type musicians, but they sounded good, tight, and like they'd all been doing this for a while.

Plus, they came out and did a mini-encore with just She (Deschanel) and Him (Ward) of "I Put a Spell on You" in which Deschanel KILLED. She was hitting all of the high notes in stunning fashion. A surprising hit with me, even though I didn't earn Zooey's love.

Passion Pit: PASSION PIT!

These guys earned my number one spot on my 2009 albums list, and with good reason: their album is filled with tracks that are easy to sing along to and fun as all hell. Did I expect them to be great? Yes. Were they? Yes!

Save possibly one other band from the weekend, Passion Pit earned the vaunted "most people singing along" and "most people dancing" award. One couple/brother & sister/ambiguous duo that was near us had just seen them in Colorado three days before and was still incredibly jacked about seeing them again. That's a good indicator that they'll be good.

They played all of the favorites, "The Reeling", "Sleepyhead", "Make Light", "Little Secrets", "Moth's Wings"...you name it. I had an absolute blast dancing and singing my voice away, as they pretty much killed it with their light show and on stage theatrics. Plus, they got a shout out from the Hova later on. It was a good day to be Passion Pit.

LCD Soundsystem: Maybe the band I was most excited for all weekend, maybe my favorite from the whole weekend, LCD Soundsystem killed it on stage for many reasons.

First off, James Murphy came across as perhaps the most genuine and interesting frontman I've ever seen. His bits about how they're the vegan side dish to Them Crooked Vultures chicken entree and Jay Z's steak, the added import of dedicating "Losing My Edge" to Gil Scott-Heron (given that Heron had just performed near by), his jokes about his new album being free on the internet a month before release, going to each member of his band and introducing them to the crowd...the guy is just a gem.

Second off, they played an awesome blend of new jams ("I Can Change" was awesome) and old favorites ("Losing My Edge" and "Yeah" were AWESOME) that kept the audience on their toes and constantly entertained.

Third off, "All My Friends" was just...perfect. It sounded so great, even with the added expectations coming from yours truly. It was just stellar.

If you haven't seen LCD Soundsystem live, I couldn't possibly recommend them more. So, so good.

Vampire Weekend: As much as I love these guys, they suffered due to LCD Soundsystem overlapping with them and running long. We managed to make it over to the Outdoor Theater where they were playing 20 minutes into their set, and just in time for "Run" to wrap up and "A-Punk" to kick off. VW sound like a band that has been around longer than they have, as they were very tight and a well oiled machine on stage. They sounded great, and earned some serious dancing from Joanne and I. In fact, this was the first band that really made us dance, and the first we had space to do so at (a lot of the audience was gone to get a good spot for Jay Z).

They played a quick, loaded set that always kept our attention and sounded great, but nothing really came across as mind blowing. Well, perhaps besides Ezra Koenig's epic fail at trying to get participation from the crowd on "One (Blake's Got a New Face)". That stood out quite a bit, as did Koenig's intensely wholesome look and Rostam Batmanglij's hilarious gangster look.

Jay Z: Given that I have a predisposition for disliking rap live, my expectations were adjusted downwards slightly. However, even with that thought it seemed like a huge mistake to not expect the best from the Jigga man, and sure enough he set the world on fire with his awesomeness.

For nearly two hours, Jay Z gave it his all up on stage, giving us a range of his catalog from the very beginning of his career to today. He even brought up guests on stage, as Memphis Bleek was his backing man, he had (not) Alicia Keys join for "Empire State of Mind", and even brought out Beyonce for one magical rendition of "Forever Young" with a huge fireworks show to pair with it.

I pretty much can never go to a rap show ever again, as they will all pale in comparison to Jay Z's HUGE show with an incredible backing band and one of the best light shows I've ever seen. In a weekend in which he was my least favorite headliner, he took the spotlight and ran with it.

He even provided the least likely incredible moment, as he had a recording of Oasis' "Wonderwall" play so he could save his voice for a song and drink some water as everyone in the audience sang along. It was incredible, and a perfect song choice as pretty much everyone knew every word. It was a very perfect moment to represent the performance, as it was very unexpected in its awesomeness.

After Party: What after party? After Jay Z ended we hobbled back to our camp site and went to bed! At our advanced age, our backs and knees can barely handle staying up at a show for 12 hours straight. We were broken people, my friends, and acted accordingly.

The good news is we got a free hug from Peachcake on our way out, so there was some upside.

My Emi Lenox Sketch is in!

2010-04-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

Emi Lenox is not a super well known comic creator, but she's rapidly leaping up the ranks in my book because her artistic ability and her incredibly charming work that she does on a constant basis. I love everything she does it seems, so when it came time to donate to help her make mini-comics for Con season, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to help.

Plus, you get a sketch for your donation! Totally worth it!

So in between my gallant attempts at making her cry at Emerald City ComiCon, I requested her to make a Pixar/Up! illustration for me as my sketch, and I got it today! To say I am enthused with it is to understate things dramatically...I <3 it like Russell <3's Kevin.

That's a lot of freaking <3 my friends.

Anyways, I highly recommend checking her out and supporting her. Not only is she an awesome cartoonist, but she is a cool person. My Portland friends (that means you Erik, Katie, Sheri and Kim!) should all go visit her at Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend. It's going to be a be a heck of a time, and it's only $6! Screaming deal I say.

Stream Portugal. The Man, Love Them

2010-04-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

This week was a momentous time for my fabled concert attending career: I saw a band for the 10th time this week! In fact, I saw Portugal. The Man twice in 5 days in two different states! After seeing them at Coachella and at Bear Tooth's 12th Anniversary Show (even with muffled vocals on the latter show), they just confirmed to me that they are one of the best live bands out there. I really, really enjoy them.

If you haven't listened to them yet, here's a good shot. I've been given the opportunity to stream their new album American Ghetto in its entirety on my blog, so if you haven't checked out their awesome new album, you have no excuse now.

Gone Fishing

2010-04-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

I'm off to Coachella and beyond for the next week, so no posting for me. Hopefully I return with many great pictures and stories to tell all of you, as well as a ton of great experiences to think back on. I'm pretty sure it's impossible for this not to be awesome...there's roller skating involved! It has to be a blast.

How Dare You, Coachella?!

2010-04-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

It seems like I've been eagerly anticipating the schedule for Coachella since I bought my ticket, and today, FINALLY, they revealed it with four days until the festival. I knew there were likely going to be a number of really difficult choices for me to make, but one is terribly unfair. It's like I'm going to have to choose between my two absurdly musically gifted unborn children. How dare you make me choose Coachella?!

Still, here is my breakdown of my five toughest choices along with what I'll probably do. Probably. We'll see how I am in the heat of the moment. Really, it's not that bad besides number one, but god...that first one kills me!

Either way, I can't wait to make my way to Coachella to have an absolutely incredible weekend of music, sun and fun.

1. Gorillaz (10:30 PM at Coachella Stage) vs. Yann Tiersen (10:40 PM at Mojave Stage) on Sunday

What I'll Probably Do: Really Coachella?! Really?! I have to choose between two of my absolute favorites of the entire festival. REALLY?! Ugh. Well, the good news is Gorillaz should play a fairly lengthy set starting as they are closing the whole thing so I should be able to watch 20 minutes or so of Yann Tiersen to sate my desires a bit before I head to Gorillaz. But do I really dare miss any of the closing set from one of the main headliners? That's a terrible choice, but I'll probably end up watching the first song of Gorillaz, sprinting to Yann for 15 or 20 minutes, and then making it back to rock the party with the rest of the audience.

2. Julian Casablancas (5:35 to 6:20 at Mojave) vs. Charlotte Gainsbourg (5:40 to 6:30 at Gobi Stage) vs. Jonsi (5:55 to 6:45 at Outdoor Theatre) on Sunday

What I'll Probably Do: 20 minutes separate the start times of these three artists, and that pretty much kills me. Three of the artists I was most excited for on the last day all at basically the same time. Sigh...

Well, the good news is I have a clear favorite amongst the three: Jonsi. So odds are what I'll do is catch a song of Casablancas, run over and fawn over Gainsbourg for a few minutes while trying to catch her eye (call me!), and then take in the glory of Jonsi for the whole of his set. That sounds about right.

3. The xx (6:25 to 7:10 at Outdoor Theatre) vs. Dirty Projectors (6:55 to 7:45 at Mojave) on Saturday

What I'll Probably Do: The xx vs. Dirty Projectors. Two huge acts from 2009 that I enjoy greatly, but I can only catch one all the way through...which will I choose? Unless I go to the show and find out they are not good live (not betting on that), I'll almost certainly stay the whole time for The xx and then roll to the DP's for the end of their set. And by that, I mean 20 minutes of it because Hot Chip is going on right after The xx. Damn! Foiled again.

4. MGMT (8:50 to 9:40 at Outdoor Theatre) vs. Major Lazer (9:25 to 10:10 at Mojave) vs. Muse (9:35 to 11:05 at Coachella Stage) on Saturday

What I'll Probably Do: This one is less painful because I don't love the three of these groups. I enjoy MGMT (more excited for the spectacle), I like Major Lazer (more excited just to see what exactly they're going to do), and I sort of love Muse (except their most recent album). With Muse being one of the main headliners and well known for their insane live shows, I'll likely try to catch all of them. That means I'll have to be at Major Lazer pronto for their set, so it will be 30 minutes at MGMT, run to Major Lazer for 10 minutes, and then back to Muse to get my mind blown. I guess that will work...

5. LCD Soundsystem (9:05 to 10:00 at Coachella Stage) vs. Vampire Weekend (9:55 to 10:45 at Outdoor Theatre) on Friday

What I'll Probably Do: This is less of a problem because I can catch all of one of these artists, but the sad thing is I either miss the beginning of VW or miss the ending of LCD Soundsystem. Considering I like LCD Soundsystem a bit more and I'm going to lay the odds very high on Mr. Murphy closing with "All My Friends", I'll stay for that. But it sucks to miss any of Vampire Weekend. Oh well. What are you going to do?

The Art of Bad Movie Night

2010-04-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

It's hard to get more awesome than a bad movie night. To me, getting together with friends to drink beer, eat food, and make fun of truly bad movies is the apex of fun so long as you pick the right movies and have the right people. It's a sneaky tough recipe to pull off, but this past weekend brought good examples of movies that worked and movies that didn't.

Up first, we had the hit of the night: Hell Comes to Frogtown. Any time you have the opportunity to bring in a movie starring "Rowdy" Roddy Piper for bad movie night, you have to take it. It's science. Check out this synopsis and you'll understand why it is so spectacular:

'Hell' is the name of the hero of the story. He's a prisoner of the women who now run the USA after a nuclear/biological war. Results of the war are that mutants have evolved, and the human race is in danger of extinction due to infertility. Hell is given the task of helping in the rescue of a group of fertile women from the harem of the mutant leader (resembling a frog). Hell cannot escape since he has a bomb attached to his private parts which will detonate if he strays more than a few hundred yards from his guard.

You really can't get much better than that. In fact, when we came across it, my friend Eric was bowled over with the sheer awesomeness that practically left off the DVD cover. An incredible choice from a savvy newcomer, for sure.

The next two movies were not nearly as great, much to our chagrin. Up first we had Murdercycle, and we fully expected this to be unrivaled in its bad movie capabilities. It's a movie...about a motorcycle that comes to life...and murders people...called "murdercycle". Straightforward? Yep. Ridiculous? Absolutely. A terrible choice for bad movie night? Sadly. Even with all of the main characters being named after Marvel Comics creators from the 60's and 70's as well as the aforementioned murdercycleness of the film, it was too modern in its terribleness to bring much fun to the equation. It was bad, but not a lively form of bad.

Meanwhile, the last movie is the one that had the highest expectations from yours truly due to its legendary badness: Manos, the Hands of Fate. In case you've never heard of this movie, it's the 8th worst movie of all time according to IMDB and an all time cult classic. My only concern about it was the fact it came from 1966 and typically the production values are too hard to get past if it is that old...and yep, the seedy film and bad sound really brought down the whole exercise. Sure, the character of Torgo was flat out amazing (I may dress as him for Halloween) and the plot was amusingly non-sensical, but we had to cut and run and move on to the Twilight Rifftrax instead.

So there it is...1 for 3 on the most recent bad movie night. Even with the variable success, it was still a blast filled with great times for all. What did we learn from it? Well, there's the recipe to this very ancient art:

The movie must be bad
The movie must think it is good
The basic concept must be able to be described as "absurd", "ludicrous" or "bizarre"
Preferably Horror or Sci-Fi
Preferably between the years of 1975 and 1995

There are exceptions to the rule (anything by Uwe Boll save Postal works like a charm), but generally speaking movies that fall into those five categories should be a success for a bad movie night. This is why, in my mind, Sleepaway Camp is the best bad movie ever. It kills all five of those categories and has maybe the most ridiculous base concept ever. Throw in the best ending that has ever happened to the cinemas of the world, and that movie should be studied in "The Art of the Bad Movie" classes for the rest of the world's days.

What's that? That class doesn't exist? I should totally teach that class.

Still, I'm always out for suggestions. If any of my readers have bad movie suggestions that fit those categories, please share. I'm always on the prowl for the next Sleepaway Camp.

The Weekend Edition (Amy's Return)

2010-04-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

In honor of my dear friend Amy Steele's return (yay!), I figured I'd get back to the basics of doing my Weekend Edition write ups, as she let me know she was a fan and missed them. So here goes nothing...what went down this weekend?

Bad movie night with Cate, Darren, Eric, Colver, Lorna, Stephanie, Emily, Olivia and Eric (yeah!)
Breakfast at Spenard Roadhouse with Dad (sweet biscuits and gravy? tasty, but weird)
Errand running with Emily (Best Buy ridiculousness, Midnight Sun brewery, dog park)
French Dips with Colver and Jason at Blues Central
Tons of beer and shuffleboard at the Buck with a slew of people
Dance party plus with Eric, Joanne, and others for Gen's bday
Feeling historically awful the next day
Welcome back Amy! dinner at Moose's Tooth

Oh dear, it was a good weekend for me to bring back the Weekend Edition on. This one had it all: great friends, great food, great times. Oh yeah, and the most horrendous hangover in months. I felt like I was beaten with a tree branch and sleep deprived for a month. If it weren't for a series of naps, some McDonald's, and heavy doses of liquids, I would have been no good at all for Amy's dinner.

The highlight of the weekend, in one of many, many highlights, had to be Amy's return. As much as I tried to pretend I didn't miss her (I'm great at out of sight, out of mind), as soon as I saw her I was really thankful to have her back. She may be a completely ridiculous person, but she's my type of ridiculous and I'm looking forward to having my good fellow frisbee golfing and summer loving friend back on a mostly regular basis.

They Call Me Double Down

2010-04-09T16:32:00.002-08:00

If you're like me, you've probably been eating a sandwich before and wondered "why can't this bread be made out of more delicious meat?!" It's been something that has been troubling me since I was a wee child, and finally someone has listened and stepped up to the plate: KFC.

KFC recently introduced the Double Down, in which you get a tasty bacon sandwich that is mixed with melted Pepper and Monterey Jack and a zesty sauce. Sounds delicious right? But what could really push it over the edge? How about instead of buns you get FRIED CHICKEN. Mmmm...this is one situation where my heart says yes AND no at the same time (or is my heart saying uncle? Hard to tell).

Just in case you're health conscious (you know how people that replace bread with meat are like that sometimes), you can get grilled chicken instead of fried. That knocks the calorie intake down from 540 to 460 calories, or about as much as not having your Michelob Ultra for the night (way to go!). Not only that, but it's only $5, so you can get all of that deliciousness and health consciousness in one package for fairly cheap.

Personally, I'm hoping to eat enough of those to get to the point where people start calling me "Double Down" like they did to Trent/Vince Vaughn in Swingers. Except I won't have a cool story like him, I'll just have lovehandles and a far lower life expectancy than I had previously. At least I'll be easily recognizable with the constant sweating and heavy breathing and what not.

But seriously...fried chicken bun! Brilliant! I bet one of the CERN scientists came up with this gem.

Lollapalooza 2010 Lineup Announced

2010-04-06T13:16:00.001-08:00

I don't know what it is about 2010, but festival lineups just seem better this year. After the absurdly awesome Coachella lineup and the fastest sell out in Sasquatch history, pundits thought Lollapalooza would have to really throw down the gauntlet to compete.

And they did.

Here's are some of my favorite samples from the lineup:

Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Phoenix, MGMT, Hot Chip, The National, Spoon, Cut Copy, Gogol Bordello, Yeasayer, Dirty Projectors, The xx, Jamie Lidell, Frightened Rabbit, Fuck Buttons, Blitzen Trapper, Stars, The Walkmen, Wild Beasts, Rogue Wave, The Antlers, Freelance Whales

That is cutting A LOT out, including the three real headliners: Soundguard, Green Day, and Lady GaGa. That bands as amazing as Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and the surprising third to their trio of Phoenix make it on the second tier tells you how awesome it's going to be. I'd go if only because of Arcade Fire and The Strokes, two bands that are near the peak of my "must see" list and two that are not making any other major festival appearances so far.

Lollapalooza is August 6th through the 8th this year in Grant Park in Chicago. Go to it and earn my envy for at least 3 days.

Welcome Back, Baseball

2010-04-05T22:03:00.003-08:00

What an Opening Day (I don't count Yanks/Red Sox day as opening day). The Mariners win (Kotchman and Figgins for Co-MVP!), Pujols goes deep twice, Jason "The Kid (again)" Heyward hits a homer in his first Major League at bat, and Mark Buehrle makes one of the greatest plays I've ever seen. I think only because of the context of it does the Jeter play against the A's in the playoffs beat it, but seriously, how the hell did Buehrle pull that off?

In other news, I missed baseball to an almost unhealthy degree. Welcome back, baseball!

Lock It Up, Scientists!

2010-04-01T20:57:00.001-08:00

Ladies and Gentleman of CERN, crafters of the Large Hadron Collider and altogether geniuses amongst geniuses, my coworker Bobby Ferguson and I have something for you to consider. To steal an idea from Bill Simmons, we're offering our services as CERN's new Vice Presidents of Common Sense. Why do you need these positions filled? I'm glad you asked, scientists.

Regardless of what Stephen Hawking may tell you, Bobby and I are here to tell you that recreating the Big Bang is an absolutely terrible idea. I mean come on guys, wasn't there someone in the room when this idea was brought up that was like "maybe we shouldn't recreate the Big Bang." No? Well, that's why you need us!

If you're not wasting billions of dollars and thousands of hours slamming atoms together and trying to track down the Higgs boson (what is a "God's Particle" anyways?) or to better understand the universe at a fundamental level, you could be solving some of the more pressing matters in the world. Once again, you're lucky Bobby and I are here as we figured out exactly what those things should be.

1) Hangover Proof Alcohol

This is a no-brainer. What is the number one thing that affects people named Bobby Ferguson or David Harper between the ages of 25 and 30? If you didn't answer hangovers, you haven't been paying attention scientists. How this hasn't been a priority for years I really have no idea. This would make the party you throw after you prove that supersymmetry is realized in nature so much more badical. Think about it...CERN rager with Alaskan IPA that doesn't make you feel bad in the morning, all next to a multi-billion dollar supercollider.

There is no way this could go badly.

2) Turning Unhealthy Things into Healthy Things

Let's say I wanted to eat a box of samoas I bought from a Girl Scout earlier today for dinner...what would happen? I'd get (bigger) lovehandles. But what if you focused all of the energy you are using to discover new dimensions on making sure that the things that go into cookies or pizza or Philly Cheesesteaks are actually good for you? Obesity would plummet in America, the utterly realistic dystopia from Wall-E would be averted (not the trash part, the fat part), and I could eat a box of cookies for dinner. This is a win win situation, folks! How is this not on the agenda?

3) Three Words: Zombie Amusement Park

You're scientists, so you're nerds. It's a fact. Bobby and I are nerds, and you know what we talk about? What we'd do in a zombie apocalypse. I'm sure you guys talk about it all the time while smashing atoms together at crazy speeds ("Hey Gunther, what would you use if everyone else in the building turned into a zombie right now?"). Everyone wants this to happen, but you guys are a) in a position to make a zombie strain real and allow us to have a sweet zombie theme park where we can get our real (but contained) zombie apocalypse on and b) working near something that theoretically could cause a zombie apocalypse. Have you never played Half-Life? We all know how this is going to end. Cut out the middle man and at least make it fun for us.

4) Flying Cars

Before you spent every waking hour messing with a thing that could destroy the world if somebody pressed the wrong button, I'm sure you watched a lot of sci-fi. Come on now, you're scientists. You know what the "sci" part of sci-fi stands for...you guys are drawn to that stuff like moths to light. So you know of Blade Runner and Back to the Future 2. Deckard and Emmett Brown had flying cars - why can't Bobby and I? This is something you should be focusing your time on. Do you know how long I've been waiting to say "where we're going, we don't need roads" and mean it?! Pretty much since birth! In my infancy I knew that flying cars are sweet and recreating the Big Bang was lame.

Address this problem...so sayeth your VP's of Common Sense.

5) Devastatingly Effective Spider Repellant

I know you guys love math, so here are some equations Bobby and I came up with to describe why this needs to happen.

David Harper + spider = little girl

Bobby Ferguson + spider = running away

David Harper and Bobby Ferguson + New CERN branded Spider Slayer 2010 = HAPPY!

You can't fight mathematics, scientists. If you could make a industrial strength liquid that made spiders stay out of people's business, you could fund ten Large Hadron Colliders. I'd be buying that stuff by the gallon. This is just logical - why wouldn't you want more money and a happy world? It's not rocket science guys.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All in all, I hope you don't brush us off. Bobby and I are serious. Like...The Hurt Locker serious. If you haven't seen that movie, it's pretty damn serious and properly reflects exactly what we think about all of this business. Now let's shape up and get some sweet hangover proof beer at the very least.

The Final: Bear Tooth vs. Hula Hands

2010-03-31T08:00:00.001-08:00

This is it folks! The showdown between the two finalists in my March Madness tourney of Anchorage restaurants. All that is left is Bear Tooth and Hula Hands, and given my affinity for these two places it isn't surprising. It's been a long road and I appreciate everyone reading, and I'm looking forward to getting back to my regular programming. This was a hell of a thing to do.

No less, on with the show. Who will take the crown as the best restaurant in Anchorage (according to me)? Find out below.

Bear Tooth: Let's get back to the facts about Bear Tooth. It's a restaurant that serves inventive and delicious meals that come in at reasonable prices (between $11 and $15 for the most part). It features two actual restaurants really, with the grill side serving things like Halibut Tacos and Moroccan Chicke, while the other side serves a Moose's Tooth like collection of pizzas along with burritos, nachos and other things. The service is very good, with the wait staff being friendly and mostly young hipster types. They serve beer, wine and liquor, and high class versions of all three no less. Nearly all of these previously stated facts can be combined with a movie (in which you can eat/drink during) or the occasional concert (in which you can drink but you have to eat before).

I mean come on, that's ridiculous.

Yet it has a fairly prevalent negative, and perhaps the only real negative of this final in my mind: wait times. Just like Moose's Tooth, you can expect the occasionally ridiculous wait. While that doesn't kill the experience, it does bring it down a notch or two.

Hula Hands: This place is so locked in it's unreal. Their food always tastes exactly as good as it did the previous time (incredibly good, in case you were wondering). The food is served unbelievably fast (3 to 5 minutes) and with a smile. The prices are extremely reasonable, getting down to around $7.50 for a plate with a huge serving of Kahlua Pig and mac salad/rice. They have two locations, one in Mountain View and one off Fireweed. They served a surprisingly robust selection of beer (La Fin Du Monde!) at good prices, as well as a nice wine list.

This place is perpetually surprising. It has no negatives in my mind and the worst experience I've had is better than most of the ones I've had at other restaurants on this list. In short, this place kicks ass.

The Showdown: Oh man, this is it. This is the ultimate matchup. Do you take Bear Tooth, the joint that is so versatile its absurd and can give you peak Anchorage dining experiences but also can make you wait for it at great lengths? Or do you take the metronome like consistency of Hula Hands, providing tasty food at crazy fast speeds and extremely reasonable prices?

I'll leave the decision to situational greatness. If it was someone's birthday and I was going to offer to take them to dinner where would I go? If I wanted to celebrate something in general, where would I go? Assuming no wait at both spots, where would I go? If it was my last meal, who would I want food from?

While slow and steady wins races with tortoises and hares, that doesn't work here. In the Anchorage restaurant scene, the hare wins, and the hare is Bear Tooth. In my mind, Bear Tooth is the best Anchorage dining has to offer.

The Winner: Bear Tooth

Final Four Matchup #2: Hula Hands vs. Gumbo House

2010-03-30T07:42:00.000-08:00

One finalist is set as Bear Tooth is entrenched in the first slot, but who will they face? The Hawaiian delight of Hula Hands or the Southern comfort provided by Gumbo House? Both are lunch favorites. Both provide special versions of comfort foods. But there can only be one! Who will it be?!

Find out below.

Hula Hands: After dining at Hula Hands at their bar (a tiny little nook up by the kitchen), I've now pretty much had every experience I can get at this restaurant. I went with my friend Eric and I had my standard food (Kahlua Pig and Pulehu Chicken with mac salad and rice) while Eric took a stab at adventure (fried poke - tuna that is flash fried and raw in the middle - with mac and rice), and unsurprisingly both meals were fantastic. We even had a pitcher of Midnight Sun Brewing Co's. Sockeye Red IPA with it, and it paired to be an exceptional meal.

Even with a restaurant full of people thanks to the review the Anchorage Daily News wrote on Friday, our service was still very friendly and very fast. It consistently astounds me how a place can be so quick and so delicious no matter how busy they are. They must have the most well run kitchen that has ever been created.

So why did I write about this one experience? Because this is how it always is at Hula Hands. I'll stop raving about them when they give me a reason to. I don't see that time coming any time soon.

Gumbo House: When my Dad and I go to Gumbo House, the man who (I believe) owns the restaurant as well as serves every table always comes to us and knows what we want regardless of however long it's been since we were last there.

Owner: "Fried Chicken Poboy isn't on special today."
Us: "Come on, you know we love it."
Owner: "Ugh...let me see if the kitchen is okay with it."

The answer is always yes to a question they have no reason to say yes to. They always give us this food that isn't even on their menu just because they have genuinely great service. That the fried chicken poboys are almost comically good (I choose to think the combo of mayo and fried chicken isn't making my heart hurt, it's making my heart sing) is almost just icing on the cake here. The food is superb, they have a great spot, and they deliver! Come on now! This place is as gold as their delicious corn muffins.

The Showdown: This is like choosing between my unborn sons Biscuits and Gravy (yes, that is right. I plan on naming one child "Biscuits" and the other "Gravy". Have I mentioned I'm available ladies?). Superb, inexpensive comfort food that is incredibly close to me and served with a smile and unwavering speed. It's ridiculous.

However, when it gets down to it Hula Hands does everything just a little bit better and I simply like Hawaiian food more than Southern food. And I love my Southern food, or my middle name isn't Leroy (that is actually true).

So sorry to Gumbo House, but Hula Hands moves on to the final.

Hula Hands will meet Bear Tooth in the finale tomorrow!

Final Four Matchup #1: Bear Tooth vs. Club Paris

2010-03-29T17:11:00.000-08:00

The first matchup in the Final Four of Anchorage restaurants features two of my absolute favorites: Bear Tooth and Club Paris. These two couldn't be any different, as one is old school classy and all about the meat while the other features a diversified lineup and something for anyone. It's going to be an epic showdown, but there can be only one winner. Who will it be?

Bear Tooth: This has quickly become one of the most universally loved restaurants in town. With good reason...Bear Tooth does everything you want a good restaurant to do. A delicious and diverse menu (thai noodles in peanut sauce? Sure. Moroccan Chicken? Hell yes. Halibut Tacos? Don't mind if I do. Tasty burgers? YES!), quality service, good atmosphere, and a primo location. That they throw in a nice bar with a quality selection and the vaunted beer selection they and Moose's Tooth share, a movie theater to eat and drink in, and two restaurants in one (really?!) really adds to the equation, making it an exceptional blend of all the best you want from your restaurant experiences.

Yet it also has a major negatives that it shares with its sister restaurant Moose's Tooth: the occasional ferocious wait. Worth it? Sure. Annoying? Oh yeah.

Club Paris: Let's say this: if the Rat Pack existed in 2010 Anchorage, Alaska, they'd probably eat at Club Paris. Well, realistically they'd probably eat wherever they could smoke at and whichever place Dean Martin hadn't been 86'd from for boozing and hitting on every waitress. But still, the connection is there: Club Paris is a throwback. It's all about small groups that enjoy a stiff drink or a tasty beer with their thick as hell but oh so delicious steaks. It may be a very specific niche, but it's a classic one and one that I fully subscribe to.

Sure, red meat may have grown less popular over the years with some crowds, but not this guy. I choose to have my filet served with a side of petite filet thank you very much. And their burgers...lord their burgers! Filet mignon served on tasty buns with you name it for toppings (blue cheese AND bacon? What did I do to deserve this?!)...so delectable it should be illegal.

Still, the atmosphere is suffocating for some (I understand why) and due to its pervasive hardiness it may not be the best idea to eat here all of the time. I've never been good at making good decisions though.

The Showdown: This is a pretty much impossible choice for me. Club Paris is as ingrained into me as my skin, being my go-to birthday dinner joint for the past 6 years as well as a real piece of Anchorage history (sit down at the bar sometime and talk to the bartender. The guy is a gem and can tell you a lot about life, such as the power of a line like "it's a good life...if you don't weaken"). Bear Tooth is a place I've only really been eating at consistently for two years (non movie experiences rather), but a place that is so damn good it is almost required eating weekly.

While I think if I had to choose at one of these places before I die, I'd almost certainly go with Club Paris. I'm not about to be executed so this is not one of those situations. Because of its Swiss Army Knife like nature and its ability to suck me in no matter the day or the meal, there is only one choice here.

Bear Tooth...see you in the championship.

The Final Four

2010-03-28T18:02:00.000-08:00

The Final Four is here, with the whole thing wrapping up this Wednesday in a showdown between two lucky restaurants. I can tell you what - I'm looking forward to not writing about restaurants EVER again. Okay, maybe that's not true. I'm in love with food. But I may take a bit of time off.

The two remaining matchups before the finals are below:

Bear Tooth vs. Club Paris

Hula Hands vs. Gumbo House

Who will be the greatest two named restaurant in Anchorage? We'll find out on Wednesday!

General Bracket #2 Final: (4) Villa Nova vs. (2) Gumbo House

2010-03-28T17:50:00.000-08:00

This matchup finalizes the Final Four, as a classy Italian joint that is supremely underrated (aka Villa Nova) squares off against Gumbo House, a down home southern joint in my neck of the woods. Who wins this vaunted matchup? Check it below.

Villa Nova: This hidden restaurant off International and Arctic stays fairly busy thanks to a few simple truths: great food and great service. While other places may get more rep, Villa Nova goes back to the basics and just makes their meals a great value by loading up on food, giving you a diverse menu to choose from (my favorites: their spinach side, the Tournedos Bolognese entree, the Minestrone, and their calamari), and gives you service that is genuine, friendly and fast. It's like "The Secret" from Bill Simmons' The Book of Basketball...it's a simple recipe for success yet a lot of restaurants choose to avoid it.

However, I must note: my most recent experience was not an exceptional one. It was fairly tasty but mitigated my strong feelings from early rounds.

Gumbo House: As I recently said, this place quickly went from a spot I passed often and contemplated eating at to being one of my go-to lunch spots. It even earned the vaunted "birthday restaurant" spot in 2009, which in itself is a hell of a thing. They do it with friendly service, delicious and varied food, a quaint setup, good prices, and awesome proximity to me. It's one of my favorite places in town and definitely one of the most vastly underrated ones, even if it is pretty damn bad for you.

But why must something so bad for me be so damn good. C'est la vie...you only live once. Might as well make the most of it.

The Showdown: Gumbo House...Villa Nova...two restaurants that subscribe to the secret of good restauranteering (made up word?) manage to face off for the last spot in the Final Four. While they're both incredible, the winner has to be the one that is more consistent and the one that I've most recently had great experiences. That means Gumbo House takes it in a close one, winning me over with their metronome like gloriousness.

General Bracket #2 Winner: Gumbo House

Drunk Girls

2010-03-26T08:42:00.001-08:00

New LCD Soundsystem is GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

New album coming May 17th! Coachella performance first night! Yeah!

General Bracket #1 Final: Taco King vs. Hula Hands

2010-03-26T08:23:00.000-08:00

The first General Bracket was an eclectic one, which is why it's not surprising that these two highly disparate restaurants made it. However, when you get down to it they make sense: both Taco King and Hula Hands are just damn good restaurants. But which will make the illustrious Final Four of Anchorage restaurants? Let's find out.

Taco King: Anchorage is not a city that is rich in Mexican restaurants, so the exceptional simplicity, superb flavors, and inexpensive meals at Taco King are a delight for me. I long debated with my friends about the superiority of Benny's Food Wagon over this joint, but after eating at both of them for years it became clear that Taco King is just better. Whether you're there to see the King (Burrito) or the Queen (Tostada), you're in for a treat. This is a place that can make some damn tasty food.

Throw in three locations (one is just minutes from my place) AND delivery, and you have a place that's always a winner in my heart.

Hula Hands: Just a recent addition to my dining repetoire, Hula Hands has captured my heart. Since my college experience at Moscow, Idaho's Loco Grinz, I've had an affinity for Hawaiian food. Hula Hands has done the impossible and nearly rivaled that joint in deliciousness, giving me a diverse menu filled with crazy delicious food. Not only that, but it's inexpensive, crazy filling, filled with friendly servers, insanely fast, and they serve beer!

I mean come on, what do they not do?! They even have two locations, including one that is super close to my house, making them all the better.

The Showdown: On paper, this is a tight matchup. Two places that have a lot of positives and almost no negatives, but when it gets down to the bottom line it's no question: Hula Hands wins. I prefer Hawaiian food, it's uniformly great, and it is a truly unique establishment in the Anchorage dining community. As great as Taco King is, it gets shown up in no time by Hula Hands.

General Bracket #1 Winner: Hula Hands

Hippie Bracket Final: (8) Bear Tooth vs. (3) Middle Way Cafe

2010-03-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

The Hippie Bracket features perhaps my most frequented restaurants of all. These two contenders may be the top two most visited restaurants, as Bear Tooth and Middle Way Cafe do a ton of things I like and they do them well. But who is better overall? Who earns my choice when it's on the line.

Bear Tooth: The key to this restaurant is its versatility. Nearly everything it does, it does VERY well. Lunch? Awesome. Dinner? Superb. Bar? Love it. Diverse menu? Hell yes. Two different restaurants with entirely different menus? Why not. Great beer? Of course. Liquor? Let's get drunk. Movies that are inexpensive? You're kidding me?! Occasional awesome concerts? Now this is unfair.

This is a restaurant with more faces than the Dodecahedron from The Phantom Tollbooth. It's like that old "anything you can do I can do better" song, but in song form. I feel like at times this restaurant taunts others with its versatility, menu, and reasonable prices for the meals. It's pretty crazy really.

Middle Way Cafe: This place houses my favorite breakfast item as well as my favorite sandwich in town. That's pretty much all I'd need to say usually, but with such stern competition more has to be said. They also have a diverse breakfast and lunch menu, along with coffee to order and delicious pastries and desserts made in house.

It also has a lot of appeal in that they nearly always have cool (or at the very least interesting) art on display, as well as cool and friendly wait staff. It's incredibly popular, so you can expect occasionally long wait times and sometimes them forgetting about your food entirely (which is a big problem).

The Showdown: What did I say yesterday? Versatility vs. selective dominance...dominance always wins? Oops. I'm already breaking my own rules, but I guess Bear Tooth just dominates pretty much everything. They have no real negatives and a ton of major positives, to the point when I'm not eating there I'm thinking of eating there. While I may frequent Middle Way more often, I prefer the dining experience at Bear Tooth.

Hippie Bracket Winner: Bear Tooth

Fancy Bracket Final: (1) Simon and Seafort's vs. (3) Club Paris

2010-03-24T22:15:00.000-08:00

Here it is...the Fancy Bracket final. It pits the #1 remaining seed Simon and Seafort's against downtown rival for high end dining Club Paris. They both have their advantages, but who earns my dollar when the time comes for reservations? You'll find out below.

Simon and Seafort's: Simon's is the 800 pound gorilla of this bracket, as it carries with significant history, a great location and view, a really nice menu, a bar that is superb, and one of the best happy hours in town. I mean, this place brings it in every facet a restaurant can bring it in. It's earned the praise it has gotten throughout the years and has managed to treat customers with respect even with the towering praise (that was half a Simon's compliment and half a Marx Brothers slam).

But at the same time, their signature dish is the macademia encrusted, crab stuffed halibut...very good, but does it top Club Paris?

Club Paris: Steeped in a history that goes back to the yesteryear of Anchorage, Club Paris has stayed old school as everyone around them has amped up the modern appeal. It works for them, as the dimly lit dining area, classic bar, and throwback menu (meat...and various forms of it) really accentuates their greatness. I mean, this is a place that just feels like something out of a movie, and it's appeal is entirely understood by yours truly.

Plus, they make the meanest steak in the city as well as the only burger that rivals Tommy's (and possibly surpasses it on some days) with their filet mignon burgers. Sure it's dimly lit, but it is also incredibly delicious.

The Showdown: All around goodness or doing two things really well? It's a toss up, but I'm going to go on the same idea that the actual NCAA tournament goes off of: if you can do one or two things extremely well, odds are you'll win. While Simon's brings B+ game across the board, Club Paris and their two big A+'s make this an easy decision for me.

Fancy Bracket Winner: Club Paris

Coachella Just Gets Better and Better

2010-03-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

How can a festival that features LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit, Jay Z, Gorillaz, Muse, Yann Tiersen, Thom Yorke, Phoenix, and a disgusting amount of other fantastic bands get even better? I mean really, is that type of music overload even capable of getting better?

Apparently yes.

This year at Coachella they'll have a roller rink open from 10 pm to 3 am Thursday to Sunday in the campsite, and they'll have a DJ playing the best roller rink hits from the 70's and 80's. Given that I had pretty much every birthday party of mine until I was 22 at a roller rink (okay, that may be untrue), I'm pretty much hovering out of excitement. I'm fully prepared for Coachella to be the best weekend of my life. Don't disappoint me!

Now I just have to prepare myself to earn that roller skating limbo championship that has escaped me my entire life. I finally get my chance!

The Elite Eight is Settled

2010-03-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

It's down to just eight more restaurants. The final matchups per bracket are below:

Fancy Bracket: Simon and Seafort's vs. Club Paris

Hippie Bracket: Bear Tooth vs. Middle Way Cafe

General Bracket #1: Taco King vs. Hula Hands

General Bracket #2: Villa Nova vs. Gumbo House

This competition is almost over, and the first matchup to decide the Fancy Bracket is coming shortly. Don't miss it.

General Bracket #2 (Round 2): (1) Lucky Wishbone vs. (4) Villa Nova PLUS (6) Tommy's Burger Stop vs. (2) Gumbo House

2010-03-23T17:47:00.000-08:00

Today's matchups pits two of my long time favorites against each other (Lucky Wishbone and Villa Nova) while two recent favorites in Tommy's Burger Stop and Gumbo House square off in a throwdown of deliciousness. The real tourney may be resting but I'm not. This is the last matchup before the Elite 8! Let's see who moves on.

Matchup #1
Lucky Wishbone: Lucky Wishbone is a phenomenal performer and has been for a long time, but is it a restaurant that peaked early in the tournament and may not have anything left for their round two matchup (sort of like Pitt getting beat by Xavier)? Well, it is a premium lunch and dinner spot still just because of the tried and true fried chicken, burgers, fries and milkshake combination. Yet, earlier in my life a week would rarely pass by without me eating there. Now? I go months without it. I'm not sure if their recipe has diminished or perhaps my tastes have moved on a bit, but I don't love it as much as I used to.

Villa Nova: This place was looking like an absolute sure shot for the Final Four until a recent performance. While Villa Nova has long excelled in secrecy due to its exceptional blend of tasty food, decent prices (for what you get), and great atmosphere and service, my experience this past weekend was perhaps...less of quality than I'm used to.

Two of the staples that I'm used to loving in my experience (the Minestrone and the Calamari) were less flavorful and more generic than I was used to (or perhaps just remembered), and this was a damper on the equation. Still, the entree of Tournedos Bolegnese was superb and my friend Joanne really enjoyed her Veal entree. That is without mentioning absolutely phenomenal service (including the waitress bringing us a special garlic topping for our bread). It was a bit up and down, but to be fair, I had eaten lunch late in the day and that may have affected it.

The Showdown: In the tourney, all it takes is one bad experience for a good team to get knocked out in the tourney. Villa Nova is not that team, as they are still a very strong contender even with the recent mediocre experience. Lucky Wishbone is still very good and holds a very special place in my heart, but I genuinely think Villa Nova is just a better place to eat. At least Villa Nova made it out of the second round iny my tourney.

Matchup #2
Tommy's Burger Stop: There's a lot of credibility to be thrown towards a place that has the best burger in town in my book. I mean, I'm a burger guy. I love them in any way: Aloha Burgers, Bacon Burgers, double pattie, triple pattie, hell, I even love the Garbage Grinder in Cooper Landing (it's loaded with ham, bacon, a fried egg and all kinds of other stuff). Burger me and I'm a happy man.

I've also heard their poboys and their philly cheesesteaks are good, but I cannot corroborate that with my own sentiment. I've just never had one. Still, the burger is perhaps enough, even if the service is pretty much standoffish but semi-fast and the sides are not perfect in any way.

Gumbo House: Service with a smile, a really nice mix of southern foods (poboys, gumbo, jambalaya, catfish and red beans), beer (BEER!), and a great and entertaining location make this place a personal favorite. Really, when I recount my experiences there, perhaps the only real negatives tie into the fact that people are sometimes jerks in the winter and leave the door open for way too long. Outside of that, it comes up roses for this quaint and delicious joint.

The Showdown: As much as I love my burgers, Gumbo House is just top to bottom a better establishment. I've never had a bad experience there and the people who run it are just outstanding. Plus, the food is awesome. For my birthday last year, my celebratory lunch took place here. That's how you know it's good. So it's Villa Nova vs. Gumbo House to decide this bracket!

Yo La Tengo!

2010-03-22T22:18:00.002-08:00

For the past month and a half or so, my Multiversity Comics co-writer Brandon Burpee and I have been filming exercises in absurdity in which we drink beer and talk about comics. We call it 4 Color News & Brews, and it has been slowly but surely taking off as we've gotten more views this week than ever before. Yeah!

Not that this will necessarily help, but I emailed Yo La Tengo (a band I very much enjoy) to see if we could use their track "Periodically Double or Triple" as the theme to our podcast. Surprisingly, I received an email back within three days saying sure. This is a band who has been around as long as I've been alive and is playing the absurdly huge Coachella Music Festival this year - they're pretty big time. Hell, I even randomly came up with a dance with Joanne to this song at my dad's birthday party last year. That's how you know they're good. Maybe this will earn our podcast some new Yo La Tengo friendly viewers, or perhaps the band some new fans. Who knows?!

Thanks to Yo La Tengo for being so damn cool about it, and I'm hoping we get the track added to our intro this week. If you're lucky you might get to see me cut a rug in the podcast too.

General Bracket #1 (Round 2): (1) Dish vs. (5) Taco King PLUS (6) Hula Hands vs. (7) Bombay Deluxe

2010-03-22T07:58:00.000-08:00

Today we have the two second round matchups in the first General Bracket, as we have a showdown between the king of Anchorage Asian dining in Dish and the Mexican delight Taco King, and a matchup between the Hawaiian favorites Hula Hands and the tops in Indian food Bombay Deluxe. Lots of matchups, lots of delicious, but there can only be two to leave this showdown to make the Elite Eight of Anchorage restaraunts. Who will they be?!

Matchup #1
Dish: Much to the chagrin of my coworker Dale, Dish took the first round win against Thai Orchid. To me though, it was a fairly easy matchup to decide because Dish just doesn't really do anything too wrong. They have a diverse and quality menu, their service is friendly, nice atmosphere, good location (close to my work), and are not too horribly priced. Plus, they're great with big parties.

One of their big problems though is they really don't blow me away that often. Save their extremely fresh tasting fish (unagi!), nothing stands out for them. Plus, there is the immediate issue with sushi for me: I simply don't want to eat it all of the time. It's more of a whimsical choice for me, which isn't their fault but a natural issue with their establishment.

Taco King: Ohhhhh Taco King. You're so reliable. Taco King is methodical in its crazy consistency, always being good, always being fairly inexpensive, and seemingly always hitting the spot. Plus they deliver, have three locations, and are fairly close to me. Throw in the fact that they have a go-to dish for me (Queen Tostada for the win!) and this is a pretty spotless little guy. While it's not a place where you're like "oh man, this is the best food I've ever had", there is something to be said about being always good. Taco King - you are always good.

The Showdown: For the simple reason that Mexican food is more consistently on my mind than sushi, Taco King wins. It's more consistent, it's way more inexpensive, it's crazy fast (I once ordered and ate in 9 minutes at Taco King), and they deliver! Taco King just does more right. I know many will disagree, but too bad. This is my competition after all!

Matchup #2
Hula Hands: Hula Hands has quickly jumped up the ranks of my go-to restaurants for a lot of reasons. Inexpensive and delicious food, go-to meals, surprisingly great beer list, close proximity to my place, extremely quick turnaround, plus I just love Hawaiian food. They also have almost absurdly friendly service...the place is just a gem. I can't really find any negatives in their formula, and for that reason they are a sneaky awesome contender of this tournament.

And for those that haven't eaten there...shame on you! This place is awesome. Get on that!

Bombay Deluxe: While I really enjoy Bombay Deluxe and their tasty meals and the crazy good Naan, they have huge negatives like the scary service that is the norm at their establishment. I'm not even going to pretend this is close.

The Showdown: Complete and utter domination. This is like Cornell versus Wisconsin. Hula Hands is a near perfect lunch/dinner spot for me, while Bombay Deluxe has more holes than the Indiana Pacers roster. Which makes me sad because I'm a Pacers fan.

Sigh...

(1) David Harper

2010-03-21T12:19:00.001-08:00

When I was little I'd comb through Wizard Magazine (a comic magazine) with the diligence of your finest Sunday Schoolers, but my innate belief system was not aimed at highly regarded deities of any sort. Rather than that, I would obsessively look through it thinking "Oh man! Giant Size X-Men had the first appearance of Nightcrawler, Storm AND Colossus?!" or some other fascinating revelation about the initial look at any of my favorite comic characters. I'd often imagine what it'd be like to see my own (1) David Harper some day, but given the fact that I'm an actual person and not a mutant or something of that sort, my day would likely never come.

Yet thanks to the wonderful Emi Lenox, that day actually did come. Today I made my first comic appearance, as Emi put me in her always adorable and frequently hilarious diary comic Emitown. Given that I'd been praising it ever since I started writing at Multiversity Comics, it was a thrill to make it into one of her comics. Thanks so much to Emi for that.

Of course, I do want to point out something about the situation in which I was spotlighted for. When Brandon and I first made it to Emerald City ComiCon, we staked out the Green Lantern line in hopes of coercing Geoff Johns (a rather prodigious comic writer) into doing an interview with us. While waiting I told Brandon I was going to "find Mike Allred" which actually means "introduce myself to Emi Lenox and Natalie Nourigat." I was very excited to meet the two of them because they're super friendly and awesome cartoonists (plus I had a rad "Ghost of DJ Roomba" sketch waiting for me from Nourigat), and in true David fashion, I managed to bumble my initial meeting by pointing out that Emi's (great) contribution to the ECCC charity art book Monsters & Dames didn't make the final version.

She was sad. I was ashamed. Then, stupidly enough, I actually made the decision to hide away for the next day and a half to not revive the bad feelings I brought Emi's way (even though I was totally going to do an all plaid interview with her on the second day for our podcast!). Which was a bummer because she was great AND I ended up getting none of her mini-comics (nor Natalie's). But hey, I guess it all worked out in the end because I ended up making my first appearance in a comic because of it. Yay!

Thanks to Emi for making five year old (and twenty six year old) David's dreams come true. You're a saint! Now everyone, go read Emitown. Especially you Erik, Katie and Sheri! You guys actually live in Portland...I feel like there should be a natural connection there.

Hippie Bracket (Round 2): (8) Bear Tooth vs. (4) Tap Root Cafe PLUS (2) Middle Way Cafe vs. (3) Snow City Cafe

2010-03-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

My laziness knows no bounds, and I'm going to wrap this up a bit speedier than I intended. Thus, you'll now get two matchups a day for the rest of the campaign until the final!

Up first, we have giant slayer Bear Tooth versus the sneaky good Tap Root Cafe, along with the battle of the esteemed midtown/downtown hippie cafes as Middle Way Cafe squares off against Snow City Cafe. Who will win in these epic showdowns? There is only one real answer...our stomachs and taste buds.

Matchup #1
Bear Tooth: This restaurant is the number one giant slayer in the tournament, playing the Northern Iowa to Moose's Tooth's Kansas. While Bear Tooth doesn't have anything as hysterical as a six foot tall guard from Iowa with brass balls named Ali Farokhmanesh, it does have a lot of things that make it every bit as awesome. A diverse and delicious menu, great beer and liquor, fantastic service, the option to watch a movie while eating anything on their menu (in the words of Marv Albert...YES!!!), and just a great set up all together.

This place is the bees knees, and from this industry analyst to you, I think them taking out the Tooth was just the tip of the iceberg.
Tap Root Cafe: This is a great first round team, bringing excellent breakfast and lunch options to the table, plus an aweome selection of beer. It's a sneaky delicious combination, sort of like UDub's squad this year - you don't know it's great until they beat you by 18 like they did New Mexico. I've discovered recently that they have some of the best biscuits and gravy in the city, which to me is the equivalent of UDub's coach realizing they had a 6'10" point forward who had great handle with both hands and had automatic range out to 23 feet. That's a pretty big deal.

Yet, their negatives are big enough to make dispatching them fairly easy if a very talented faces them in the tournament. You know, like next round when West Virginia is going to murder them or this round when Bear Tooth salivates as they look at Tap Root's slow service, luke warm water, and oddly cold set up.

The Showdown: This is a blow out, as Bear Tooth is just a mega powerful contender at this point. As much as I love Tap Root, Bear Tooth brings its A game in almost every facet of the equation. Which, you know, is very unfortunate for Tap Root. Bear Tooth is movin' on!

Matchup #2
Middle Way Cafe: This joint is bringing it like the Baylor squad of this year's tourney. They everything well, but they throw in one thing that they do excellently and that acts as the tipping point. Middle Way Cafe's tipping point is my go to breakfast order for the entirety of the city - breakfast burrito with avocado. That thing should be illegal for how delicious it is. I crave it in nearly every situation, breakfast...lunch...dinner...3 am, randomly at my desk during the day. You name it. It's the great x-factor of this bracket.

Besides that, they have incredible baked goods, a varied lineup of tasty sandwiches, good service (although occasionally horrific times in terms of receiving your food), and a full array of coffee for those that like their breakfast or lunch to be super charged.

Snow City Cafe: In many ways, Snow City is a sister shop to Middle Way. They do a lot of the same things. Focus on breakfast and lunch, trendy and friendly waitstaff, primo location, art friendly...you name it. Their menu may be even more balanced, as their lunch isn't just sandwiches but a variety of tasty treats (like the pesto chicken).

However, here's one thing that they're missing out on that is necessary to move out of this round - a go-to meal. You need something to rely on and something to always bring you back. Snow City doesn't have that for me, which is no good indeed.

The Showdown: In an epic matchup and one of the closest ones so far, Middle Way wins simply because it has two go to meals (the aforementioned breakfast burrito and the delectable avocado melt) while Snow City has none. To use a little of Bill Simmons NBA Trade Value column logic, when I took the two head to head, who would I take? Middle Way every time.

Prepare for an epic showdown next round...Bear Tooth vs. Middle Way for a spot in the Final Four! It's going to be a barn burner baby!

Top Five Records from February (and part of March!)

2010-03-19T16:35:00.010-08:00

I had a period of time where I wasn't really crashing the new record bins. Let's call that period of time "February", which is why you haven't seen a continuation of my ongoing count of my favorite records of 2010. This countdown will be from February 1st until...let's just say today. These five records are the albums I've loved the most over this stretch, along with one record that I wanted to talk about it because it is something I simply don't understand, plus one song that I LOVE.

In other words, this is a post about something besides food. Begin rejoicing!

Note: I forgot Portugal The Man's American Ghetto. It'd probably end up at number five on this list, knocking off Freelance Whales. Still, I'm not taking FW off because I wanted to share that nugget about Pitchfork's review. That's right.

1. Broken Bells - Broken Bells

This selection shouldn't really be a surprise if you really think about it. Take the production and the eclectic and eccentric mind of Danger Mouse and pair it with the thoughtful musings and beauteous vocals of James Mercer, and odds are you'll have a solid album. This album is a lot more than that, progressively growing on me since I started checking it out. When you listen to tracks like "Vaporize" or "The Ghost Inside", you realize you're listening to the mad genius work of two A+ pop songwriters.

It's a delectable fusion that I connected with from the very beginning, and that connection has just grown and grown with each passing listen. Which is a lot because it's basically all I've been listening to for a week.

Vaporize - Broken Bells

2. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

The first Gorillaz record was produced by Dan the Automator, and it was a big funk blast of an album. The second was from Danger Mouse and it was a hodgepodge of eclectica and delicious pop. Now, they're back with Plastic Beach and head Gorilla (or really the only constant member) Damon Albarn is taking a turn producing it. What came out was a whirlwind that features some big names (Snoop Dogg, Paul Simon, Lou Reed) and some of the most diverse pop tracks of the year to date.

Whether it's lead single "Stylo" featuring its creeping synth beats and yin & yang vocals from Mos Def and Bobby Womack, "Some Kind of Nature" with its ambling rhythms and simply cool vocal tracks from Lou Reed, or "On Melancholy Hill" and its oddly beatific melodies and forlorn and loving structure, this album touches on all kinds of different pop milestones and does an exceptional job with each and every one of them. Plus, it's infectious as all get out! I just don't know how you can't love a Gorillaz record.

Stylo (Album Version) (Feat. M...

3. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

This record, to me, sounds like an interesting blend of the vocal harmonies of Fleet Foxes, the sunny disposition of The Elected, the hyper evident and driving percussion of The National, and the arrangements and southern flair of My Morning Jacket. So if you're scoring at home, to me:

Local Natives = Fleet Foxes + The Elected + The National + My Morning Jacket

I'm not great at math, but I'm pretty sure that means this record is awesome. Interestingly enough, I like, not love those four bands in the equation. Yet this record seems to take my favorite aspects of their sound and create alchemic blend that I absolutely adore. It's one of the more out of left field albums this year for me, but I love it all the same.

Sun Hands - Local Natives

4. Four Tet - There is Love in You

For an electronic album, this is a beautifully spare and affecting release. One of the greatest accomplishments found on it is that Four Tet managed to take a track like "Angel Echoes" or "Plastic People" and find power behind the moments of silence as well as he does on the ones where there are gorgeous explosions of sound. It has the sound of someone who has been cultivating their sound for a long time and really has found out what works and what doesn't, as there is a real sense of confidence in it. No schizophrenic loops or cuts, no spastic breakdowns, just driving, hypnotic jams that stay with you for days on end.

Another thing I think is very interesting about this album is the live instrumentation that is used within. While listening to it, it almost feels like it has an ambient, lounge sound. It's inviting and danceable, but the fact that you can source the sound back to instruments you recognize adds a layer of power to it. It's a beautiful piece, and something I was surprised to like as much as I did.

Angel Echoes - Four Tet

5. Freelance Whales - Weathervanes

While this album is still not technically out in physical release nor has much changed since I originally reviewed it in January, I had to talk about it for one reason.

This is a joyful and well crafted album from a young band who is really putting themselves out there. While I have come down from my previous high esteem of the record a bit and I do agree with the lyrical triteness of the record that Pitchfork referenced, Freelance Whales were pretty much assassinated in their review. Sometimes, I wonder if Pitchfork listens to music to enjoy it or to lick their chops at an opportunity to slap down something with burgeoning hype. To those who tossed the record away, I say pick it up and defy Pitchfork. It's a good record that deserves attention, even if it is "derivative."

Generator ^ Second Floor - Fre...

Why is this loved?!: Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

I want to like Joanna Newsom. I really do. I just don't get it. Sprawling, spastically arranged tracks about god knows what that occasionally touch on what I look for in music are what I find, while others listen to it and hear pure gold.

When I listen to tracks like "Easy", the lead track off this album, I see a little of the glimmer that others see. Yet, when I find myself confounded through the three discs worth of other songs as she plays with her harp and sings in her creepy beautiful voice, I find myself eagerly anticipating its culmination. Please, someone tell me what I'm missing.

It seems like every year features one record that I do not like at all that everyone else loses their minds over. Last year was Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest...I think this year it's going to be Joanna Newsom. Coincidentally, she was the winner of this prize in 2006 as well with Ys (which is even creepier).

Best Track: Raaaaaaaandy and Dave Sitek - Aaaaaaaangry (with Eight A's)

Between his Funny or Die stuff, his random roles in movies, his stand up work, and Parks and Recreation, I've somehow become a bit of an Aziz Ansari fanboy. Basically everything this guy touches entertains me to no end.

Now he's working on a mixtape with Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio and I'm loving it as well. This first track finds Raaaaaaaandy (his alter ego from Funny People) calling out all of the rappers who were supposed to contribute to the mixtape but didn't. It makes me laugh every time, like when he calls out Kid Cudi for his ridiculous song titles, shuts down Drake for his Hotmail account, and ESPECIALLY when he calls out Kanye for the inane nature of his blog ("ohh...here's a picture of a dope treehouse in Scandinavia").

Ansari is also a sneaky good MC, and Sitek lays down some awesome beats. Really, this has to be one of my favorite hip hop tracks I've heard this year and I'm not entirely sure it's meant to be serious at all.

Now hurry up and listen to these albums. You're slower than mayonnaise!

Fancy Bracket (Round 2): (3) Club Paris vs. (7) Mixx Grill

2010-03-18T20:10:00.001-08:00

We have quite the showdown today as bracket stalwart Club Paris goes up against a hot up-and-comer Mixx Grill today. While it's surprising Mixx even made it here, does it have enough firepower to unseat the great Club of the Paris? Let's find out what advantages each restaurant brings to the table.

Club Paris:
Advantages

Best steak in town
They can stuff their steaks with bleu cheese if you ask (thanks Sara!)
Better beer
Awesome Rat Pack sensation if you park in the back lot
The place is steeped in history
Awesome bar
Crazy good lunch - filet mignon burgers!

Mixx Grill:
Advantages

Doesn't feel like an interrogation room
Better service overall
Better dessert
Occasionally really cool music

The Showdown: As much as I enjoy Mixx Grill, it's hard to really call this a showdown. Club Paris is a contender this year like Kentucky - they systematically take their opponents to pieces and show serious pro potential while they're at it (sort of like DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall today against a lowly 16 seed). Mixx Grill, you're great, you really are. You're just no Club Paris.

Fancy Bracket (Round 2): (1) Simon and Seafort's vs. (4) Orso Ristorante

2010-03-18T08:01:00.002-08:00

Two of the absolute titans of Anchorage dining square off today, as Simon and Seafort's bring their historic greatness up against Orso Ristorante and their hip mix of the new and old classics. Who will win this battle for the ages? Let's break down the advantages each restaurant brings to the equation.

Simon and Seafort's:
Advantages

Go to meal in the crab stuffed, macademia encrusted halibut
Better Happy Hour
Fantastic View
Slightly better parking situation
More seating (arguably)
More expansive menu

Orso Ristorante:
Advantages

Better overall atmosphere
Less stodgy
Better desserts
Slightly better bar
Better wait staff (aka cuter)

The Showdown: Each restaurant brings their own advantages to the table that makes them good options for the discerning restauranteer (I may have just invented that word), but it's a simple fact to me: Simon's makes better food. While Orso is perhaps better for drinks and dessert and extremely casual meals, if I have a hankering for a damn tasty meal that only Chad Ochocinco dollars can handle, Simon's is near the top of my list.

Round 2 Begins!

2010-03-17T22:43:00.000-08:00

The first round of action is now complete, with a lot of big time upsets (including #1 overall seed Moose's Tooth going down) happening. Round 2 is filled with some top notch performers, but this is where it's going to get even more difficult to pick. Let's get to it shall we?

General Bracket #2: (2) Gumbo House vs. (7) Harley's Old Thyme Cafe

2010-03-17T22:40:00.000-08:00

I have a soft spot for down home food. Something about fried foods and epic portions really gets to me (wonder what that could be?), and those are two things that Gumbo House and Harley's Old Thyme Cafe do with incredible skill. But who is better at slowly but surely clogging my arteries while making me smile ear to ear? Let's find out.

Gumbo House: This tiny little place is located in a house on 9th and F and has long drawn my interest. I drove by it over and over and always wanted to try it out, yet never did. Well, until I did...and then I fell in love.

This spot serves classic southern style poboys with ranges of meats in them: fried chicken (off menu, but always on for my dad and I), blackened halibut, oysters, shrimp...you name it. They also serve gumbo, jambalaya, catfish with red beans, and all kinds of other southern classics, and I am glad to say that they are all remarkably tasty.

The service is also consistently great, with the owner doing almost all of the serving himself and almost always remembering repeat visitors. It's kind of like a homecoming every time, and not just because it's in a small little house. Pricing is decent and hell, they even deliver. This is a place that doesn't have a lot of negatives, save for the fact it is most definitely not healthy (which is a pretty big negative in today's more health conscious world for me).

Harley's Old Thyme Cafe: This is the most underrated breakfast place in Anchorage, as it once was great because of the best brunch in town and has quickly transitioned into being the best place for classic breakfast foods in town. I dare you to go to Harley's on a Sunday morning and tell me that this isn't about as good as you can get for breakfast staples in town. Their Country Bumpkin Breakfast that comes loaded with chicken fried steak, hash browns, three eggs, your choice of toast or biscuits and gravy (BISCUITS AND GRAVY!), AND a Harley Cake (only on Sunday) is perhaps the best way to clog your arteries in town. Sure, you may feel like you need to have a quadruple bypass by the time you're done, but it's a small price to pay to satisfy your taste buds in such an incredible way.

However, their lunch is not quite as phenomenal. While the breakfast is what I go to them for, I have tried the lunch before and it was far less impressive. While they do have an almost absurd amount of sides to choose from, nothing on the menu really impressed me so far. Evidently quantity does not make quality. Throw in some occasional service hiccups (speed, not niceness), and we have some negatives in there that are hard to ignore.

The Showdown: In the battle of down home joints, the spotless appeal of Gumbo House brings in the quick win against Harley's. While I love me some breakfast, I prefer to have my arteries clogged and my reaction times assassinated later in the day, thank you very much.

General Bracket #2: (3) Arctic Roadrunner vs. (6) Tommy's Burger Stop

2010-03-16T21:10:00.001-08:00

Here it is: The Great Burger Off of Anchorage. On one side you have Arctic Roadrunner, the long loved joint off International and Old Seward that has long sated the desires of the burger loving folks of Anchorage. On the other side you have Tommy's Burger Stop, the hidden spot off Benson and Spenard that houses some mighty fine burgers themselves. But where can you get the best burger in town?

Arctic Roadrunner: This restaurant has been a staple of Anchorage culture for almost as long as the city itself has existed, and visiting its main location off International is like walking into a museum of Alaskana but better...because it serves delicious burgers and tasty shakes. It's burgers are highlighted by thick and tasty beef patties and some incredible home made buns. This place does the classics of a drive thru joint very well, as the standard fair is exceptional.

The biggest problem for the spot is that the meals aren't satisfying and original enough to merit the price, and their sides rarely hit me where I want them to (right square on the taste buds). While the burgers are pretty damn tasty, I want some crazy good fries or onion rings to go with it and to be honest, I just don't love their sides. They also don't take cards which is a pretty big demerit in itself.

Tommy's Burger Stop: This is the best burger in town. Well, they have a number of the best burgers in town. Whether you're looking for a simple cheeseburger, a garden burger, to the Aloha or Stella Bleu burgers, this place can hit the spot. That they also throw in incredible poboys and philly cheesesteaks really seals the deal of pure unadultered deliciousness.

Just like the Roadrunner though, their big demerit ties in to the lack of included sides. Instead of the flavor being the big negative associated with them, their problem is the price. $5 for onion rings? Come on now. Throw in pretty much no seating if it isn't summer time and the patio isn't open and we have some pretty major issues.

The Showdown: In the battle of burger joints, the winner is decided by one simple factor: who makes the better burger? While Arctic Roadrunner has the longevity, the fact of the matter is Tommy's completely and utterly nails the art of the burger quite unlike any other place in Anchorage. They have a wide variety of them and each and every one of them are more inventive than what the Roadrunner has to offer. Victory goes to Tommy's.

General Bracket #2: (4) Villa Nova vs. (5) New Cauldron

2010-03-15T15:59:00.000-08:00

This matchup is about as disparate as two you can get. You have Villa Nova, an Italian restaurant ideal for big group togethers or dates, and then you have New Cauldron, a forgotten restaurant that is uniformly awesome and oddly charming. Two restaurants that are easily forgotten in the mix of restaurants across the city, and two that should never be forgotten.

Villa Nova: Villa Nova...oh how I love you. I've went here with my family, I've went here with friends, I've taken dates here...you name it. This place is a remarkably charming place that serves some of the best Italian food and steaks in town, and it has an incredible wine selection. I mean, this place is good. That's right...it deserves bolding.

Every experience I've had there has been transcendant, always standing out for one reason or another. In fact, the last time I went there was just with my mom and I could not decide what wine I wanted. Instead of just telling me about what they were, the waitress walked me through the menu, helped me whittle it down to three, then basically poured me three full glasses and said "pick your favorite and we'll go from there." She charged me for exactly zero of them. If I did that at Marx Brothers the waitress would likely accuse me of theft and I'd probably end up in jail.

The service and atmosphere are insurmountably impressive to me, reaching the peak of those categories in this competition for me. The food is excellent...in short...I love this place. If only it wasn't in the most random and sketchy location ever.

New Cauldron: This is my sneaky favorite lunch spot. My mom and I have been coming here for years, and we've went from eating pretty much entirely by ourselves when we started to eating in a packed restaurant. The difference between now and 2002 is insane, as every lunch day is now packed. It's totally worth it too, because they have some incredible food that is also often quite healthy. My favorite dish is their teriyaki chicken plate that comes with brown rice and steamed broccoli - really healthy, really tasty, and moderately priced.

They also feature one of the best Club House sandwiches I have ever eaten. Scratch that, it is the best I have ever eaten. While it should come with a complimentary replacement heart, it is epic in its deliciousness. Their salads are almost enormous and dense with all of the good things you want in them, and perhaps the most "worth it" salads you will ever find.

Not only are those positives huge, but they also have some of the most personable service ever. Our waitress doesn't give us menus, comes by and confirms our meals (we have a few rotating choices), and then she hooks us up shortly thereafter. It works like clockwork. It's pretty incredible.

The Showdown: Two restaurants with very few negatives and tons of huge positives, militant followings, and oddly poor locations. These are as close of competitors as you can get. However, here is where the difference is: there is simply more potential for delicious and more options from Villa Nova. They both do what they do about as well as anyone does in town, but when you get down to it the 'Nova comes out on top in a squeaker like this past week's West Virginia/Cincinnati game.

General Bracket #2 Breakdown

2010-03-13T08:00:00.001-09:00

It's General Bracket #2 day! We're just four days until the second round and being that much closer to this competition wrapping up. This bracket may be my favorite in the competition, fusing a lot of down home, burgers, and one rather classy joint together for a hodgepodge of deliciousness. Who will escape the category and make it to the final four? We'll find out soon enough.

General Bracket #2: (1) Lucky Wishbone vs. (8) Humpy's

2010-03-12T08:30:00.000-09:00

This pits two of the biggest staples of Anchorage dining against each other, as one of the oldest restaurants in Lucky Wishbone goes up against one of the most popular bar/restaurants in town in Humpy's. It's two pretty classic menus showing down to see who does the basics better. Who will it be?

Find out after this.

Lucky Wishbone: When Rachael Ray came up to Anchorage, this is one of the places she went. Why would you she go to a drive thru, down home, old school Anchorage restaurant? Because it's delicious!

This restaurant keeps their menu to the basics: burgers, fried chicken, fries, and milk shakes. While there are other foods, those are the basics and what they do best. I go there for the burgers, and I love this place so much that I actually went there for my post high school graduation dinner. I always get their jumbo cheeseburger with a side of fries, my mom normally gets the MOM (an assortment with fried chicken with fries), and my dad normally gets the POP (a bigger assortment with more fries) and a mileshake.
I mean, this is without fail. This is a place that is all about comfort food, and it's all about familiarity

Lately, I've been going after my pallete has expanded a bit and it isn't quite as good as I always wanted it to be. However, it's hard for it to escape the love I once had, so I continue returning and enjoying the experience.

Humpy's: This restaurant was featured on Travel Channel's Man vs. Food, and it had Adam "I don't wash my hands" Richman taking down some makeshift contest that never existed before then. It's one of the best places to get beer in town, as it has an eclectic and robust beer list to go with a pretty large menu. Want fish and chips? Got that. Want burgers? Got that. Want a nice salad? They've got that. They have a little bit of everything, and most all of it is pretty darn good. Better yet, the service is almost always remarkably solid for how busy they are.

Their big negative is the prices. While a lot of their food is good, it's awfully ridiculous to spend $16 on Halibut Tacos (that aren't as good as Bear Tooth's - suck it Eric!). Often their food is a tier or two below other similar options, so unless I'm going to drink it's a rare occasion that I'll stop by there and eat.

The Showdown: Two classics, two Anchorage constants...but who comes out on top? They both have big positives and big negatives, but when you get down to it the years of consistency from Lucky Wishbone make it come out on top. Maybe if Humpy's regulate on their prices some day they'll take the lead, but not yet!

General Bracket #1: (2) Panda vs. (7) Bombay Deluxe

2010-03-12T08:00:00.002-09:00

Today is a battle between two more massively under represented food types in Anchorage. Well, that may not be true for one of the choices. Still, Panda is a titan of Anchorage's Chinese food scene while Bombay Deluxe is the best of the very limited selection of Indian restaurants. But which of these choices should be your choice and almost certainly is always mine? Let's find out below.

Panda: This restaurant was called by one of the Top 10 places in the country to dine by USA Today in 2005. Let that sink in. Out of the thousands (millions?) of restaurants in the country, one of the allegedly best ten in the country is a Chinese joint in Anchorage, Alaska. Now that is surprising.

Especially, when you get down to it, considering that Panda is the apex of Chinese dining in a depressingly bad Chinese city, that isn't exactly saying much. While their food is fairly good and moderately priced, nothing really stands out as remarkably good about it. A lot of coworkers order it for delivery at my office and I'm always confused as to what the horrible stench is, and then bam, it's Panda. While it's highly regarded and nearly always busy, I've never been able to figure out what the big deal is with Panda.

Bombay Deluxe: I'm going to start with a major negative: the service. The service, at times, is mean spirited. I've been there with friends before where the server will come by and we will literally fear their presence as they roll their eyes and willfully ignored us.

Past that, the food is uniformly tasty and nicely priced. The Naan (Indian bread) blows me away each and every time I have it. Their beer and wine lists are nice, and everything compliments each other very well. One of the coolest things about this restaurant is each and every time it feels like I'm having my first experience again, because I always seem to try something new (besides the Naan...which is a must). You can't say that about a lot of places, and you have to appreciate a perpetually new experience disguised as a tiny restaurant in a very random strip mall.

The Showdown: Considering I basically said I do not like Panda, it probably isn't much of a surprise that I take Bombay Deluxe. But the win isn't just because Panda is not great, it's because Bombay Deluxe (besides the service) is fantastic. It's uniformly good and often surprising. If you haven't tried it yet, get on that!

Kid Cudi + Ratatat + MGMT = Gold Mine

2010-03-11T20:44:00.000-09:00

Today a new video for the Kid Cudi track "Pursuit of Happiness" that features Ratatat and MGMT was released, and it's a fairly entertaining one. However, I really enjoy the song and love the fact a hip hop star is finally using Ratatat to create beats finally. It's been a long time coming, and it's unsurprising that my boy from How To Make It In America was the one to do it. Check it out above.

David Petersen Interview

2010-03-11T13:28:00.002-09:00

This past weekend I interviewed David Petersen, the Eisner Award winning and New York Times Best Selling creator of Mouse Guard., for my comic blog Multiversity Comics. He was a great guy to talk to, and it was a perfect first shot at practicing an in-person interview right before Emerald City ComiCon. The videos are below...check them out and see how goofy I look!

General Bracket #1: (3) Falafel King vs. (6) Hula Hands

2010-03-11T10:01:00.000-09:00

This throwdown features two of the more forgotten types of food in Anchorage: Middle Eastern vs. Polynesian/Hawaiian. Both are epic in their deliciousness. Both are poorly represented in the city. Yet both of these restaurants are great. Who will win in this showdown between Falafel King and Hula Hands? The answer may surprise you.

Or not. That remains to be seen.

Falafel King: This tiny, tiny joint off of Gambell and...street that will not be named is a pretty simple one in options (falafel, schwarma, schnitzel), but definitely not simple in flavor or in serving. I mean, whether you're throwing down any of their three primary foods, you know you're going to be filled when you're done. Their schwarma is so packed to the gills in meat, veggies, more meat, tahini, more meat, and veggies that you'll a) need to wear a bib and b) grow a second stomach to handle the amount you get. Not only that, but everything is mixed and matched perfectly to hit the apex of tasty, satisfying you to the very last bite. Plus, it's served with a smile generally, as the main woman who works there is very sweet.

The biggest problems with this place is that it is often impossible to predict when it will be open. I'll go there during regular hours and they will have a sign that says "returning in 5 minutes" that rarely actually reflects the amount of time they will be gone. On top of that. I wasn't kidding about the bib. This is maybe the single most messy food in town. If you can successfully eat a lamb schwarma without evacuating its back end all over yourself, you're a greater person than I. A bib probably isn't a proper recommendation. A hazmat suit might be more fitting.

Hula Hands: Just typing those nine letters made me hungry. That's how you know it's good. This place serves Hawaiian classics (note: my all-time favorite restaurant was a Hawaiian place in Moscow, Idaho) like Kahlua Pig, Pehelu Chicken, Spam and Eggs, and more, and all of it is absurdly delicious. Meals are paired with the classic combination of white rice and mac salad, and it's as delectable and simple as you can get. On top of that, it's inexpensive and remarkably fast - I once got my food in 3 minutes on a packed evening. Crazy.

They also have an amazing beer and wine selection for such a small place (La Fin Du Monde!), have incredible service, and are located two minutes from my place. Are there negatives to this place? ARE THERE??!

The Showdown: I love me some Falafel King. It fills a niche that I haven't really met since I left Europe, in which little shops like them are on every street corner. Yet, Hula Hands hits one of my favorite food varieties and does it as negative free as everyone with a lot of roaring positives. As I mentioned, I have a bit of a Pavlovian response just to their name and may actually be forced to eat there today because I love it so much. Sorry Falafel King, you went up against one of the fastest risers in the entire tournament.

General Bracket #1: (4) Benny's Food Wagon vs. (5) Taco King

2010-03-10T10:48:00.001-09:00

This has been one of the fiercest debates of my life amongst my friends: Benny's or Taco King? I've long belonged to Team Benny's, as I've been "eating it since (I) was in the womb" as my mom used to say, but have the years of Taco King love split the difference and made me a disciple of the King Burrito and the Queen Tostada? Let's check the tale of the tape and find out!

Benny's Food Wagon: This is the most endearingly unassuming restaurant in all of Anchorage, hiding off Northern Lights across from Taco Bell and Sweet Basil Cafe and serving a small but well crafted menu of classic Mexican treats at very affordable prices. My go-to meal is the Burrito Special, which comes with two chimichangas and a side of rice and beans (and lettuce!). I've been eating it for pretty much the entirety of my existence, and it comes as ingrained into my persona as anything I've ever eaten.

But I have to admit...it has fallen off since it moved away from its old location where Embassy Suites is now. They lost their old cook who made the rice as delicious as any I'd ever tasted, and they have long been trying to recreate the magic. While all of the other elements are mostly the same, with the rice being such an intregal part (somehow becoming my favorite aspect in later years) the once mighty Benny's has taken an epic downturn. Even the old stand-by employees that worked there have been replaced with late teens girls - very disappointing. But it still is met with a deep sense of nostalgia and esteem, and I will likely eat there for as long as I live in Anchorage.

Taco King: I always held strong against its charms, but the authentic(ish) menu and inexpensive meals eventually won me over. Taco King is a place that has something for everyone, and in a city that is so dreadful when it comes to Mexican food it is nice to have some guaranteed delicious in the town. Whether you're looking for guaranteed awesome from the very filling King Burrito or the epic-in-its-tastiness Queen Tostada, or perhaps something a bit more sweet like buñuelos or fried ice cream, this is the place for you.

It also has a number of locations placed very strategically across town (off Tudor down by the police station, off Huffman, and off A St. and Northern Lights), and the service is always superb, with the employees being extremely friendly. Plus, they deliver now!

The Showdown: As much as it shames me to admit it, Taco King takes Benny's down now. If this was 2004, it'd be Benny's by a landslide, but the mighty have fallen and the King has risen. If Benny's ever fixed their rice and brought back some of the charm that has seemingly been misplaced, I'd revisit this showdown. But as of now, the once and future King of Anchorage Mexican is here to stay.

General Bracket #1: (1) Dish Vs. (8) Thai Orchid

2010-03-09T08:30:00.000-09:00

Now this is where things start getting interesting...throwdowns between restaurants with completely different styles and niches. Gone are the rather straightforward apples to apples comparisons. This isn't even apples to oranges, this is sushi versus curry, as Anchorage's preeminent sushi spot Dish and their most delectable Thai restaurant Thai Orchid square off in what is sure to be a very close competition.

Dish: This restaurant is new to the scene, but their ascent to the peak has been quick for a number of reasons. Pete's Sushi Spot had most of their staff defect to Sushi & Sushi and then burned down, Sushi & Sushi picked a terrible location that practically forces you to go to Moose's Tooth, and I <3 Sushi went through a dreadful remodel and menu redesign that neutered their quality. Oh yeah, and Dish is hellaciously good.

Dish excels at a few things, but when you go to a sushi joint one of the biggest differentiators is the freshness of the fish that they use. While some restaurants taste like they actually dug their product out of Dish's trash after it went bad (*ahem* SAMURAI!), Dish manages to bring some of the most phenomenal flavors out of their unagi and ama ebi simply due to the fact you know it was freshly cut. Their unagi in itself is an experience, as it is the best I've ever tasted. You also have a wide selection of rolls to choose from, a great bar, and an eclectic mix of other foods like various forms of (meat) teriyaki and (meat) fried rice. It isn't just a Japanese experience, it's a full Asian foods experience.

But there are downsides: it's rather expensive and kind of streaky (but that is mostly the type of food you're dealing with - sushi is so oriented off of mood it is unbelievable). Plus, there is the personal downside in that I always see people I know there, and that isn't something I'm looking to do. No basketball references here, as Dish is like a D2 school somehow getting into the tourney due to unforeseen circumstances amongst a lot of the main contenders, and then making it rain like they are Reggie Miller against the Knicks.

Thai Orchid: To me, the competition for "Best Thai Restaurant" in Anchorage is no competition at all. Thai Orchid obliterates everyone simply because they make tastier food. Try their curry, try their pad thai, try their fresh rolls...it's all phenomenal. This is one of the few restaurants on the list that is exceptional only for their food, but it's a contender no less. Everything I've had there is better than its counterpart at any other local Thai joint, and for that reason Thai Orchid is one of my go-to lunch spots. Plus, holy crap they give you a lot of food.

However, there are some major negatives here. It is the single tiniest restaurant on the planet and corroborates my theory that all Thai restaurants must reside in a strip mall of some sort. If it's winter time, every new patron freezes out the people that are eating. The service is abysmal and at times can be mistaken for indifferent or even mean spirited. Thank god the food is good.

The Showdown: As much as I want to give Thai Orchid some love, they have huge negatives on the table. While they definitely have very good food, it doesn't stop the fact that Dish brings a lot more than just good food to the table. When that is factored in, this is no contest at all.

General Bracket #1 Breakdown

2010-03-09T08:00:00.002-09:00

This section of the General Bracket contains some very interesting contenders, ranging from the preeminent sushi and Thai places in town (Dish and Thai Orchid), the best in quick Mexican dining (Benny's and Taco King), more niche oriented ethnic food (Hula Hands and Falafel King), and the most popular Chinese and Indian restaurants (Panda and Bombay Deluxe). Quite the mix of types of food, so this more so than the other brackets will likely be a complete mess. But...you know...in a delicious way.