Sunday Funnies

Congrats Brooke Burke!

Oh, I'm kidding... sort of. I mean I haven't and never will watch Dancing With The Stars. Ever. Watching people dance doesn't do a lot for me. If they were in a cage maybe and occasionally punched or kicked each other... now we're talking.

But I do love Brooke Burke oh so very much, she's one of the hottest women on the planet. So here's a nice little video tribute. You're welcome gentlemen. (Well, except the ones who wanted Lance Bass to win)

Thanksgiving Eve

The Shield finale... holy crap. Suck on that Sopranos.

I went to my first University of Arkansas Little Rock game of the season last night and had a blast. They beat Creighton 71-69 on a putback with 6 seconds left to go to 4-0 on the season. I've got sweet season tickets with nice leather cushions and a waitress bringing me food and cold beer. Should be a great season.

The movies are hitting the theaters on hump day this week to make for a long holiday weekend. Here's the skinny on new arrivals:

Transporter 3

The Plot: Frank Martin (Jason Statham) puts the driving gloves on for a third mission: To deliver Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukranian government official, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he'll have to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina's safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.
My Thoughts: Well, the first 2 were pretty much non-stop chases, violence and gun fights. I expect nothing less here. You had me at violence. I would pay to see Jason Statham beat-up pretty much anybody.



Four Christmases

The Plot: A comedy about a married couple (Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn) from two divorced families who are tasked with attending four Christmas Day celebrations.
My Thoughts: While I like both Witherspoon and Vaughn individually, the thought of them together does nothing for me and this looks like a rehash of several other holiday films. In other words, I'll rent it next Christmas.



Australia

The Plot: Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man (Hugh Jackman) in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces firsthand.
My Thoughts: Wow. I think this looks boring as hell. I pass on anything that mentions winning an Academy Award in reviews usually. Unless of course, Keith Urban shows up at the end of the film and gets into a guitar duel with Hugh Jackman as kangaroos form a circle around them?

Book Review: Beware

Beware
by Richard Laymon

Synopsis: Using ancient black magic a dangerous, vindictive maniac is made all-powerful by his ability to become invisible. Raping and murdering his way around the States, he is biding his time before fulfilling his one desire - to get even with the high school belle who rejected him years before.

I thought this book started out fast and brutal with a lot of promise, in typical Laymon fashion. But after that, I feel like it became pretty stale really, especially for a Richard Laymon novel.

You can tell it's one of his works because it is brutal, with lots of naked women, gore and a couple of rapes. My problem was that is just became pretty stupid, between the way the characters behaved and some of the occurrences. For example, our heroin gets raped at the beginning and once the cops show up she just goes home to shower, alone, while the rapist wasn't even caught yet. No sense in sending her to the hospital for an exam or sending a cop to guard her, just let her go home and shower. They won't need that evidence on her body.

Then while she is in another town hiding away, she just so happens to meet a guy staying at her hideaway hotel whose best friend happens to be working on the same case as the guy who attacked her. Things just start conveniently coming together. Way too conveniently.

As for the stupid behavior, they have the invisible assailant capture, tied-up and out cold but instead of turning him over to the cops they break multiple laws, sneak him out and eventually let him loose, all so they can get his story for a book. Really? Somebody would commit multiple felonies to get the story of the guy who just raped (multiple times actually) and assaulted the woman you're with just to get his story? Please.

It also wraps up rather too conveniently for me too.

Lots of wasted potential with some good parts... but overall a disappointment. It's really short, which is too bad because I think it could have used another 100 pages or so to flesh out some plot details and give the characters a bit more depth.

4/10

Ahhh... Sweet Karma

Ya know, I love karma. It's just so great to see it in action. I was at Wal-Mart (or Wal-Marts as the locals call it) last night and some douchebag pulled the old "too-cool-to-put-his-cart-in-the-cart-corral" move. I was parked a couple of empty spots from him and he just sort of pushes the cart up against a curb on his passenger side, between our vehicles, and goes around and gets in his truck. Well, I'm thinking "you idiot! that could roll and hit my car" because the lot there is slightly slanted. But alas, in all it's beautiful karmic glory, the cart begins to roll towards his truck as he backs out. Not just a truck, but a truck he's obviously put a lot of money in with all the extras like he starred in the "Fast and the Furious" movies or something. There's even a bit more justice as just before it whacks his door he sees it, so he has a couple of seconds even realize the error of his ways before the damage. Bam! Right in the side of the passenger door, leaving a small dent that I can see from my position as I load my groceries into the Jeep and take my cart to it's proper place in the corral. I pull out of the lot as he inspects his truck. I slept like a baby. Thank you Wal-Mart gods.

Ok, so despite the fact that a lot of people have already started this Christmas shopping, I declare it officially started the week of the dreaded Black Friday. So there are lots of goodies out between now and then. See I'm here to help you sort it all out. New stuff today (most actually came out yesterday or Sunday even this week):

* Guns N Roses ~ Chinese Democracy CD (Best Buy only... read more here)

* The Killes ~ Day and Age CD

* Supersuckers ~ Get It Together CD (2-CD set)

* Punisher: War Zone Soundtrack CD

* White Zombie ~ Let Sleeping Corpses Lie CD/DVD (massive 5-disc box set)

* Linkin Park ~ Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes CD/DVD (read more here)

* Hancock DVD (Will Smith superhero comedy... reviewed here)

Linkin Park Live

"Bleed It Out" live from the Road To Revolution DVD, in stores today. They're live at Milton Keynes on their acclaimed 2008 Projekt Revolution tour in front of 65,000 fans in England. It's the band's first live document in five years.

Concert Review: Metallica

Metallica w/Down and The Sword
Alltel Arena, North Little Rock
Nov 22nd, 2008

So for the first time since May 2004 and the 7th time in their history, Metallica came roaring back into Arkansas with a couple of heavy pals in tow. I'd like to tell you I got to my seat and rocked out to the smooth, sexy sounds of The Sword, Austin's doom/stoner metal powerhouse, but by the time we battled the lines for weapons search and lines for the restrooms and the lines for beer and the wristbands for the beer etc and so forth... we caught 1 song from the seats. I've got one of their CDs and like it, but they're a band I think that gets their point hammered across much better in-your-face in a smaller venue. A big arena doesn't do justice to their bong-rattling dungeons and dragons doom. Cool band, maybe another night I'll be able to tell you more when I catch them in a club.

Down then came blasting up pretty quickly following The Sword and put on a great set. If you want to know a bit more about them and what I think, follow this link from when I saw them back in January in a much more intimate setting. Phil sounded great again I thought, but sonically I just didn't feel like their distorted rhythm would go over that well in the round setting, and I was surprised to hear how wrong I was. The sound was great and they didn't suffer at all from the bigger, in-the-round stage. There will never be a moment in my life when my head doesn't automatically bang to "Bury Me In Smoke", unless I'm comatose. Phil definitely works the audience as well, regardless of the size of the setting.

But everybody really came to see heavyweight Metallica of course. Within 20 minutes of Down's last chords and me making a frantic run though all the lines mentioned above again (minus the search), we were in our seats with beers in hand and bladders drained as the house lights dropped, fog began pumping in around the stage and "Ecstasy of Gold" began playing. The stage is huge and right in the middle of the arena floor, with the drum set in the direct center and plenty of room for all the guys to circle it and get face-to-face to any section of the arena. There were no video screens, a slight disappointment, but the way the stage was laid out it's pretty easy to feel connected as the old cliche "not a bad seat in the house" certainly applies.

They started with 2 songs off the new CD, "That Was Just Your Life" and "The End of the Line", probably just to let everybody know this wasn't just some greatest hits nostalgia trip. Lasers danced all over the place during the opening and the crowd was very receptive to the new tracks as James barked and growled while the other members got introduced to their new settings. The floor was probably at about 80% full and only the upper levels had empty seats, I'd guess the arena to be at about 75% full overall.

After the new tracks and words from James, the place exploded as they played "Creeping Death", "Ride The Lighting" and a 10-minute version of "One". A lot of their light rigs all around the top of the stage were in the shape of 30-foot silver coffins, and they were lowered and raised at various points adding to the show as with the stage as big as it was, the guys weren't always standing on our side of the arena. They were pretty active on stage, especially Robert who seems to have the energy of a 16-year-old with A.D.D. as he stomps/stalks around, long black hair flying and hanging over his face. Throughout the show at various points there were lots of pyro, and it was big-ass pyro. Flames would blast up and I'd have to check to see if my sexy eyebrows were still in place and I was a good 100 feet from the stage.

Kirk sounded sharp and probably as good as I've heard him in my half-dozen times seeing this band. He's not flashy but his playing is very fluid, which is most necessary while at times the band in mashing through some song at rib-cracking volume, his technical ability is in complete contrast. Maybe you have to see them live for that to make sense, but it did to me again that night. I do know it seems like he's actually getting better.

Next was a couple of more songs off of Death Magnetic, "Broken, Beat & Scarred" and "Cyanide". On the latter, Robert really kicked ass as his bass line seemed to be punching everyone in the face. All the while Lars was doing a steady job on the drums, with he and Robert seeming like they'd been keeping the thunderous rhythm of this band for decades instead of just years. More oldies with "Sad But True" getting the crowd going, followed by "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "Wherever I May Roam" before Kirk noodled around a bit with a solo as the guys took a bit of a break for about a minute. It didn't take long though before they were all back out and blasting through their final new song of the night, the well received "The Day That Never Comes". The song starts off a bit slow, in trademark fashion, but by the end it was just a massive live song and one of my favorites of the night. That brought the total of songs from the new CD to 5, or half the CD. That's a lot for a band to keep an audience's interest I think, especially when you have such a great catalog of old tracks as these guys do and your songs are so long. A lot of the new songs clock in over 7 or 8 minutes.

Just when I think they might lose people though they dig out something to blow everybody right back up, this time it was the brutal 1-2 punch of "Master of Puppets" and "Blackened", and I wondered where everybody, band included, suddenly found all this frenetic energy. The place was alive or as the kids say, "blowin' up". Kirk settled it down again with some more noddling on a solo before the lighters broke out for the sing-a-long (as if everybody wasn't singing everything already) "Nothing Else Matters". That songs ends upbeat and heavy, so it's a perfect time for that little riff everybody knows that kicks off "Enter Sandman", and the place came unglued.

They took a very short little encore break while most of the audience tried to figure out how to chant the 4-syllables of their name, before finishing off Little Rock with the cover "Die Die My Darling", followed by "Whiplash" and closing with "Seek and Destroy". During this time they dropped these huge black beach balls with the Metallica logo on them and it would have been cool to see the hundreds of them bouncing all over the place, but mostly people were just trying to grab them so they could keep them. Not sure what I'd do with a black Metallica beach ball, but maybe on some goth beach these people go to it's a cool thing. It must be where the mullets roam free and guys like Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffet get beat up.

They stayed around after the house lights came on for a good 10 minutes or so shaking hands and taking turns talking on the mic and thanking everybody for coming out and supporting them etc. I think it was Lars though who finally said the groan-inducing "nothing little about Little Rock", which we hear in some shape-or-form from every band who comes through, usually by being called "Big Rock".

All-in-all another outstanding show. Complaints? With any band I like this much and know as much of their music I'll miss a few songs. This time I wasn't that thrilled to hear "Die Die My Darling" (don't really care for it) and perhaps they could play only 4 new tracks instead of half the album, although I enjoyed all the new ones and don't know which to drop. How about they just add 2 or 3 songs to the set? I know they change it up every night but c'mon, it's been 4 years since they were here and I didn't get to hear "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Battery" or "Hit The Lights". Also not 1 track off the hated (by most) St. Anger CD, and personally I'm a fan of "Some Kind of Monster" and "Frantic". Nothing from Load or Reload ("Fuel" anybody?). But hell, they've got so many songs I love a 4 hour set might not totally satisfy me. That's a good problem to have a guess.

This isn't the speed metal, dangerous Metallica that tore up the industry once upon a time. It's the arena rock version of an older, wiser Metallica. It still loud, mean and rocks like hell though.

What don’t kill ya, make ya more strong.

Setlist:

* That Was Just Your Life (Death Magnetic)
* The End of the Line (Death Magnetic)
* Creeping Death (Ride The Lightning)
* Ride The Lightning (Ride The Lightning)
* One (... And Justice For All)
* Broken, Beat & Scarred (Death Magnetic)
* Cyanide (Death Magnetic)
* Sad But True (Black Album)
* Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Master of Puppets)
* Wherever I May Roam (Black Album)
* The Day That Never Comes (Death Magnetic)
* Master Of Puppets (Master of Puppets)
* Blackened (... And Justice For All)
* Nothing Else Matters (Black Album)
* Enter Sandman (Black Album)

*** encore break ***

* Die Die My Darling (Garage Inc)
* Whiplash (Kill 'em All)
* Seek and Destroy (Kill 'em All)

World At War VG Trailer

This was the trailer they showed at the launch for the video game Call of Duty: World At War. How sweet does this game look?

I'm not sure what the song is... sounds like Alice In Chains or Jerry Cantrell but it's no song I know of.

Sunday Funnies

So if you haven't figured this out, on Sunday's I post a dozen or so of these "funnies" i.e. a bunch of one-panel comics collected throughout the month. If one is too small for your little eyeballs to read, click on it and it will magically get larger. You can also click on the "comics" label after the post for hundreds more... or just patiently wait until next Sunday for another dozen.

Disney-Pixar's Up Trailer

I get tired of saying it so I'm just going to let the trailer speak for itself...

Ah, who am I kidding! I love this stuff! Pixar and Disney are the greatest two-some since The Captain and Tennille. Since Bert and Ernie. Since Brad and whoever.

This film looks like a blast, just as I would expect.

"Up" is due in theaters May 29, 2009.

Chinese Democracy Finally Starts

Man, the whole buzz on the new Guns N Roses CD, Chinese Democracy, that comes out tomorrow at Best Buy has reached ridiculous proportions. Their player on MySpace has over 55 million plays total! You can stream the entire album there if you so choose.

I've listened to it a couple of times through and I have to say this... taken at face value and not as history's most elusive record, it's a good rock album. Maybe a bit too over-polished and drags on a bit at times, but there are plenty of highlights.

I was dead-set on not calling this version of the band Guns N Roses, as it's really become just Axl's own project, until I saw them live in Vegas a couple of year's ago. It was a great show and they blasted all the classics with the same balls and swagger as they did in the old days. The faces changed but it still felt good. Sure it's still Axl's project, but I guess that is Guns N Roses now. Take it or leave it.

Guns N Roses MySpace (entire album stream)

Here's some of the critical response so far, which doesn't affect my buying or my recommendation whatsoever but they're fun to read an occasionally enlightening. These are some of my favorites I've read yet.

Rolling Stone: The first Guns n' Roses album of new, original songs since the first Bush administration is a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record.

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Is it good enough to make Rose rock's biggest star again? No, but "Chinese Democracy" should keep him from being its biggest punch line.

Spin: An outrageously overblown pop-metal extravaganza, Chinese Democracy feels like a perfect epitaph for all the absurdity and nonsense of the George W. Bush era--one final blowout before Principal Obama takes our idiocy away.

Entertainment Weekly: At times it's possible to hear the world-changing CD that Rose--whose banshee howl remains gloriously intact....But too often quantity gets in the way of quality.

The Guardian: Chinese Democracy is clearly not the greatest rock album ever made, but nor is it an absolute and utter failure. The irony is, that for all the lavishing of money and time and technology, it's saved by something as old fashioned as a good tune.

Dot Music: Meandering atmospheric intros and outros, with lyrics that often just repeat the same verse ad nauseum, overshadow what could be, at times, shorter, snappier songs.

Uncut: Soundwise, Chinese Democracy is all over the place.

Observer Music Monthly: Now that this half-cocked hard rock anachronism is here, the only laughs are unintentional. Axl: you blew it.

Culture Bully: Putting aside all thought on expectation, what the demos sounded like, why the album has taken so long to release, and if the final product sounds remotely good all becomes secondary to the fact that Chinese Democracy is finally a reality. For what it’s worth though, when considering the obstacles faced prior to its release, it’s nothing short of remarkable how good the album sounds.

Chuck Klosterman: Still, I find myself impressed by how close Chinese Democracy comes to fulfilling the absurdly impossible expectation it self-generated, and I not-so-secretly wish this had actually been a triple album. I've maintained a decent living by making easy jokes about Axl Rose for the past 10 years, but what's the final truth? The final truth is this: He makes the best songs. They sound the way I want songs to sound. A few of them seem idiotic at the beginning, but I love the way they end. Axl Rose put so much time and effort into proving that he was super-talented that the rest of humanity forgot he always had been. And that will hurt him. This record may tank commercially. Some people will slaughter Chinese Democracy, and for all the reasons you expect. But he did a good thing here.

Lordi on Conan O'Brien

Nice clip of Lordi and all their infinite weirdness on a recent episode of Conan O'Brien doing "Bite It Like A Bulldog". It's like KISS and Gwar mated and had an evil, disfigured baby that likes to rock it's little nads off.

Jermain Taylor vs Jeff Lacy Highlights

HBO has posted some highlights of Arkansas hero Jermain Taylor's impressive victory over Jeff Lacy last Saturday night (Nov 15th) in Nashville. JT is now 28-2-1 and should be the number one contender for the WBC super middleweight belt.

Twilight Friday

Man, this Twilight madness is crazywackykookoo. It opens today, which technically began at midnight, and 1,100 theaters showing it at that hour were sold out reports say. The movie "only" cost $36 mil reportedly, and it might very well make that back in it's first day. I have to plead stupid here, I know nothing about this whole thing. I've looked into it recently and it looks sort of like The O.C. with vampires. I'm going to take a pass on the whole teen thing. Hey, I'm not saying I'm above that mind you, I mean I like the Harry Potter films (never read any of the books though) and they're made for the younger set. I'll probably just catch this on DVD to see what it's all about. For now though I'll keep watching True Blood on HBO for my (adult) vampire fix.

But if you're an adult and need an excuse to go see this teen/tween movie, here's a pretty good list of "Six Excuses Grown-Ups Can Use To Go See Twilight" I found.

Anywho... here's what hits today on the pre-holiday weekend:

Bolt

The Plot: Bolt (voice of John Travolta) is a celebrity dog and the star of a hit TV show where his amazing feats and powers draw big ratings. But when a mail-room mix-up finds him roaming free on the streets of New York City, the wonder dog will have to learn to rely on his actual strengths -- as well as his new friends, an abandoned housecat and a starry-eyed hamster -- in order to find his way back home to his owner and co-star, Penny (voice of Miley Cyrus).
My Thoughts: Looks like a pretty cute animated flick, and with Miley's star power I wouldn't be surprised if this opened pretty big as well. I'll rent it someday I'm sure.



Twilight

The Plot: In her new town of Forks, Washington, misfit teenager Bella falls for her alluring and mysterious classmate, Edward. As it turns out, Edward belongs to a lineage of vampires, although he doesn't fit the typical vampire mold. As their passion reaches dizzying heights, can Edward resist his natural urges, and will he be able to defend Bella from his family members who have come for her?
My Thoughts: Meh, I'll pass. You just know the entire theater is going to be full of teen girls with cell phones, and there's no way that can be enjoyable. Good luck seeing the big screen with all those little screens lit up too, no doubt texting something that can't possibly wait until the movie lets out. Like, whatever. LOL. *barf*

New Video from Motorhead

Did I ever tell you about the time I met Lemmy? Anyway, here's Motorhead's new video for the tune "Rock Out". It's extremely cheesy and feels like it's from the 80s, but hey it's Motorhead and it does rock out, even if it's just for barely over 2 minutes. Bow to Lemmy!

Movie Review: Quantum of Solace

Seeking revenge for the death of his love, secret agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) sets out to stop an environmentalist from taking control of a country's water supply.

What do you really need to know about this movie? Within the first 30 minutes you have a car chase, a foot chase and a boat chase. If you wonder what's left, later in the film there is an airplane chase to complete the circle of chases scenes. There's violence, lots of violence actually, with plenty of gunfights, explosions and fist fights. There are hot women, with Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko both looking really sexy. There's Judi Dench back as M. Oh, and Daniel Craig has his shirt off. There ya go. Bond movie.

There's more to it than that of course, but not much more really. The plot is just killing (pun me!) time between frenetic action scenes. There's a bit of tenderness, but it's closer to say the Jason Bourne films than a chick flick. I'm not even really sure if it qualifies much as a Bond film as those elements are barely visible. It does qualify as a solid spy flick though.

I don't like it as much as I do Casino Royale, the series reboot, but it's definitely another worthy Daniel Craig entry to the franchise. It sets up another quite nicely.

7.5/10

Thursday Hodgepodge

I got over to Conway Tuesday night for a book signing and speech by one of my favorite authors, Chuck Klosterman. He was a bit under the weather but keep the Ricolas and water coming and put on a pretty fun 2 hours of Q & A from the audience and stories. He started the night by saying what a great time it was to be living in America, a time of great change, when everything will be different from here forward... as Guns n Roses' Chinese Democracy is finally coming out. That set the tone for what was to follow. He talked about interviewing everyone from Marilyn Manson to Bono to Steve Nash. He's sort of a nerdy hipster with an insight on current pop culture that's as thought-provoking as it is funny. He asked questions like "If they created some sort of super-gorilla, should it be allowed to play in the NFL?" then took audience responses and tried to make sense of things. My only problem with the evening was that many in his audience gave answers trying to make themselves more of the "show" than him. But all-in-all it was a pretty entertaining night.

Here's some more reading for you:

Chuck reviews Chinese Democracy
my Killing Yourself To Live review
my Fargo Rock City review

There's a solid show at Juanitas tonight for those in the Little Rock area as Four on the Floor, a heavy band that does some originals and solid covers, are opening a gig for my favorite local band Bombay Black. Here's a flyer for you:



ComingSoon reports that Walt Disney Studios went over its 3D schedule today in Singapore at the 3DX: 3D Film and Entertainment Technology Festival, with the highlight being news that Beauty and the Beast is being remastered as a 3D picture. The work’s already begun, and the new version is expected to be ready for a 2010 release.

Here’s Disney’s 3D schedule for the next few years:

* Jonas Brothers 3D Concert Movie (2/27/09)
* Disney-Pixar’s Up (5/29/09)
* the new 3D verion of Toy Story (10/02/09)
* A Christmas Carol, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jim Carrey (11/06/09)
* Beauty and the Beast, 3D version (2010)
* the new 3D version of Toy Story 2 (2010)
* Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010)
* the brand new 3D Toy Story 3 (2010)
* Rapunzel, a new 3D animated film (2010)
* Step Up 3D, the latest in the crappy dance franchise (2010)

Variety reports that Fox has chosen Josh Schwartz to write the next X-Men movie, X-Men: First Class. The story will focus on teen characters introduced in other movies while they’re at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Schwartz is best known for his small-screen creations, such as teen hits Gossip Girl and The OC. He’s also responsible for Chuck. Schwartz is expected to “inject a next-gen sensibility” into the superhero series.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Stephen McFeeley and Christopher Markus are in negotiations with Marvel Studios to write First Avenger: Captain America. Joe Johnston is set to direct. McFeeley and Markus wrote The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and its sequel, Prince Caspian.

Metallica Tour Kick-Off

Here was how Metallica started the World Magnetic Tour Oct 21st in Phoenix. The opening song was "That Was Just Your Life" and I think that's how they've been opening most of their shows. 3 days until the Little Rock show!

Next Up: WEC 37

Here's a preview for the awesome upcoming fight on Versus between Miguel Torres and Manny Tapia and WEC 37 on Dec. 3rd from Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. It's mainly just the jerk Frank Mir sharing his thoughts on the fight, but if you can put up with him there are some good highlights. Torres is probably one of the top 5 pound-for-pound guys going right now.



Here's the televised card:

* Champ Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia (for bantamweight title)
* Brian Bowles vs. Will Ribeiro
* Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akitoshi Tamura
* Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez
* Justin Haskins vs. Johny Hendricks

Metallica Live In Salt Lake City

It's getting closer to me seeing Metallica again (4 more days!) so I guess I should start posting some videos. How about some live stuff?

Here's a good quality pro-shot Metallica video from this YouTube user for the song "Broken, Beat & Scarred" live in Salt Lake City on Nov 3rd. Looks like they're playing 4 or 5 songs from the new CD every night, which works for me.

Obama Reads My Blog

No seriously, my inside sources tell me Barack Obama was getting a pulse for the voting nation and surfed on in to find my presidential poll. He liked my visit to the City of Giant Statues and decided to not only check it out for himself but to pose where I'd posed. So technically, I probably helped him win the election. You see when I was there I asked if I could take a picture with the giant Supes, and they said "Hey, nobody has ever thought of that!" So I did. And there it is. Yep. You're welcome Democrats.

Star Trek Trailer Hits the Web

Well, here's the much talked about new trailer for J.J. Abram's Star Trek. It's not due in theaters until May 8th, 2009 but it's already getting more hype than an Alaskan governor. I'm no Trekkie by any means, not even a casual fan of the series or movies really, but I think this looks pretty good myself.

More on Thursday's Concert

So I feel like I sort of let you down with my quickie review of Thursday night's concert. I know you expect more from me. To make up for it, I'll share some videos from the night. They're posted and I assume filmed by YouTube user ArkansasRocks, who has a lot of very cool local videos. Be sure to click on the link and add them and comment on their vids.

Caution... if you are offended by bad words, well then you'll want to skip these and wait until Stryper or Petra come to town.

Here's how 5FDP took the stage in Little Rock's The Village. You'll hear the intro music and then they break into "Ashes"


Five Finger Death Punch playing "The Bleeding", their final song of the night


Five Finger Death Punch covering "Bad Company"

Whew! Weekend Wrap...

Wow, I need rest. Sometimes things are sort of a whirlwind for several days and an old man like me needs time to recoup, especially for this week's fun, which includes a speech at a college by my favorite author Chuck Klosterman on Tuesday, Four on the Floor and Bombay Black at Juanitas on Thursday and then the big Metallica/Down show on Saturday. Should be an awesome week.

Thursday night we went to see some bands at The Village. Local band Wishtribe opened the show with a good set. I've recently picked up their locally made CD and it's got some good tracks on it and this is the first time I've seen them since so they were better than I remembered. Next up was hardcore band Bury Your Dead, and while their music really isn't my thing (I prefer a bit more melodic and cleaner vocals) they're definitely a solid, heavy band with a good high energy show. Then In This Moment came on and I wasn't really into them too much. They're sort of like an evil version of Evanescence maybe. Not sure, I really didn't pay a whole of attention to them. No offense to them, we'd just found some people that let us in a V.I.P. room with comfy couches and our own bathroom so we were preoccupied while they were on. Lastly was the band I came to see, Five Finger Death Punch, who I've seen multiple times in the last year but love their energy and show. They're heavy, pissed-off and brutal and I could go watch them weekly. Not too much changed since the last time I saw them. They had the crowd in a moshing frenzy for most of the set and ripped through their debut CD opening with "Ashes", followed by "Salvation" then playing most of the album at some point. I remember hearing "White Knuckles", "Never Enough", a cover of Bad Company's "Bad Company" and "The Way of the Fist" before ending with the massive "The Bleeding". Awesome band.

Here's a couple of pics of them and the last one is me with Bury Your Dead's lead singer Myke Terry:







On Saturday me and my buddy Phil headed over to Memphis for a day for some beer tasting and hanging out. He runs BeerReviewsOnline.com (shameless plug!) so we wanted to hit a couple of liquor/beer stores and get some new stuff to try out and rate on the site. We found a great place called Buster's Liquor and stocked up on big beers then hit Raffi's Deli and grabbed some other stuff, as you can do mix-your-ow six-packs there. Tennessee has some weird law about not selling the strong beer in the same store you sell the lighter beer, so you have to make 2 stops to stock up. Yes, retarded I know.

We then went down to Beale Street and checked in our hotel and wandered aimlessly around all afternoon and night, sampling brews and being entertained by some of the characters. We also holed up in Hooters for several hours and watched most of the UFC pay-per-view while feasting on hots wings. We made stops in the Beale Street Tap Room, Jillians, The Flying Saucer and Coyote Ugly at some point or another. Beale Street ain't what it used to be, as many places I'm used to have closed down and even with University of Memphis having a ball game that night, it was pretty dead in most places. That didn't prevent us from having a pretty good time.

Here's Your 227th Pick In The Draft

That loud clicking sound you heard this afternoon was thousands of football geeks adding former Arkansas Razorback and Conway High School stud Peyton Hillis to their fantasy football teams. He lead the Broncos to a victory of Atlanta with solid blocking, 3 catches for 26 yards and 10 carries for 44 yards while scoring 2 TDs. He's got 3 career TDs now in his 9 game NFL career.

Who really thought in a season where the Razorbacks sent high profile first round picks Felix Jones and Darren McFadden to the Sunday Wars that the guy who blasted open a lot of those holes for them in college would be getting better results, largely due to them not being able to stay healthy.

You'll Hear It Working

Caution: Don't take Sproingo if you're startled by sudden goofy sound effects.

Sproingo... hearing is believing.

Saturday Night Live - Sproingo

Sunday Funnies