The Christopher Myers

Another introduction that we have to keep short, because Chris has provided us with his own commentary. This is not a bad thing, but why would you want to hear from me when you can hear from them?

A man who needs little to no introduction around these parts. He posts every once-in-a-while on this blog as poor poor pitiful me, usually when he has a problem with the way things are run. He's an all-around good guy, good softball player, good voice that will melt you like butter, good predecessor to my Calvert Hall math award, good egg baby, good Disney collector, and some kind of television expert, etc. He also posts pretty infrequently at a blog called The French Inhaler. If you backtrack I highly recommend you check out the kids who prank call him. Really good bit.

Anyway, Chris twisted the concept of Friends Recommend by recommending to you things he now likes that he was originally determined to hate. Here we go, in his own words:

THINGS I WAS DETERMINED TO HATE:

TV:

Friday Night Lights ---I thought that High School Football + Goofy Looking Teens and Dementiated Grandmas = A terrible show. Every episode on hulu.com. If you watch the first episode and don't want to keep watching, you're heartless. Tyra Collette, Matt Saracen, Tim Riggins, Buddy Garrity, Smash Williams, Coach Taylor, Tami Taylor, Matt Saracen's grandma, Jason Street, Landry "Lance" Clark...I have no clue how to determine my favorite character. I can't think of many other shows where I can list the first, last and nick name of nearly every possible character.

Battlestar Galactica ---While frustrating sometimes because of their "We'll make it up as we go along" long-term plotting strategy, this Sci-Fi is so much more than just some lame spaceship show and I can look past the little WTF-were-they-thinking detours. Gaius Baltar.

30 Rock ---Was a staunch supporter of "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip" in the battle of the "Behind The Scenes at a Sketch Comedy Show" shows, so I resented this show when Studio 60 got canceled and this one lived on. This one is good, it turns out. I included this so that Adam could riff on an episode of this and then pretend I didn't recommend anything else.

Corner Gas ---The most unattractive cast in all of television would turn anyone away initially. Find yourself a good Oscar-centric episode (Mail Fraud? Spin Cycle? Mosquito Time? Slow Pitch? Dress For Success?) and fall in love.

Movies:

Memento ---Once it was released on DVD, I decided to give it a chance and see if Dave Wright could actually act or not. Turns out he's awesome.

Music:

Jonathan Richman - Surrender to Jonathan
Randy Newman - Sail Away / Good Old Boys ---Spent my first 18/23 years throwing these two in the category of "Supposed genius songwriters who were blessed with a non-voice and record their music in a style that makes it almost unlistenable." I included this so that Adam could pretend that "I Love LA" is on one of these two Randy albums and then call it a day.

Nick Lowe - Rose of England/Jesus of Cool ---Spent my first 26 years thinking he was some lame old guy.

Gram Parsons - GP/Grevious Angel ---Spent my first 20 years thinking he was Graham Parker, whom I incidentally have never heard either, but seems like a lame old guy.

Bee Gees - Main Course ----Spent my first 24 years thinking this would be too much high singing for me, then heard rumors that their first few albums were considered by some to be the Lost Beatles albums, which is pretty accurate. Then I explored the disco era in depth. This Main Course is something special.

Kenny Rogers - Eyes That See In the Dark ---Spent my first 20 years thinking that Kenny was a chicken-eating borderline douchebag. Barry Gibb wrote and produced this album. Sure, there's "Islands In the Stream," but on top of that, we have some of the best songs I've heard in my adult life. Perhaps too Adult Contemporary for some.

Miscellaneous:

Google Reader. ---Google Reader is Google's best invention. It has made me better friends with friends of mine who also use it to read internet stuff. I was never determined to hate it.

Chutes Too Narrow--The Shins

The Shins are a confusing band to me. I really like The Shins, and I think they are the best of the "The _______" bands that all seemed to pop up around the same time. You know, about five years ago (maybe a little less) it seemed like "The _______" bands were getting very popular where the "_______" is a four or five letter word, like Hives, or Strokes. Well, I like the Strokes too, but there were a lot of these bands that I didn't consider so good. I consider the Shins good. Just prior to Garden State coming out my brother made me a mix CD (this would have been the tail end of 2003, or the beginning of 2004) to take back to grad school in Michigan with me. I listened to it a lot of times in the car ride back, which was about 9 hours each way, and continued to listen to it for the next couple of months. The standout track on this album was "Kissing the Lipless" by the Shins. If any Shins song were to change my life it would be this one, not that other one about which that quote was previously spoken by a tiny Jedi queen.

Anyway, I loved this song, and when Garden State came out I have to admit I started feeling a little funny about really liking The Shins. Now I'm not a weirdo, and I didn't let it effect my liking of this band, but something just felt funny. Like all of the sudden hearing The Shins had this connection to Garden State and made me think of the movie even if it wasn't this song. The little included montage is exactly what I am talking about. The Shins were good to begin with...they didn't need to be tied in with movie imagery, but I just couldn't shake it. Everytime I heard the band I didn't want to hear the quote "Good luck exploring the infinite abyss" or something like that. Well, whatever. I actually do like the movie, and I actually do really like The Shins. I just wish they weren't tied together in my brain for so long (I have since gotten over this!)

I am glad Mike Ward picked this one. I think it is a great album from start to finish, especially from start because it begins with my favorite Shins song. The whole album is good, rock with a slight twang. That is how I think of it. It can rock moderately hard, but it has this little twist (are they from the south?) If you somehow haven't heard The Shins this is the place to start, for me. If you haven't heard The Shins I'm not sure where you've been. But if you have this connection of them with Garden State like I previously did, and you judge them for it, I advise you pick up this album and check out what they're really about. It's worth it. Here is a live version of Kissing the Lipless. Just for you. Also, great handclaps.

John Waters' Top Ten Films of '08

Two posts in one day! So I stole this from artforum.com, but you need to register so I saved you all the trouble by just reposting it. An indirect John Waters' recommends his top 10 films of last year. Warning: Contains John Waters-esque language. Enjoy:

1 Sorry, it’s a tie: (A) Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen) Does anybody not think this is the best American movie of the year (even though it was made in Spain)? Come on, it’s got a great script, the actors look like real movie stars, and Woody Allen films Scarlett Johansson with the same obsession Paul Morrissey had for Joe Dallesandro. Gives heterosexuality a good name! (B) Love Songs (Christophe Honoré) I may be the only person who would pick this as the best foreign-language movie of the year, but what do I care if you don’t like this hipper-than-thou bisexual French musical? When the sexy, smart-ass characters burst into songs about brain tumors, saliva, and human sandwiches, I get all teary inside and realize that this is the only romantic comedy I’ve ever really loved.

2 Mister Lonely (Harmony Korine) A Marilyn Monroe look-alike lures a Michael Jackson impersonator to an island that is sort of like a cinematic Jonestown without the suicide, except for nuns who jump out of a plane piloted by Werner Herzog. Korine’s most fully realized movie doesn’t copy anybody.

3 Savage Grace (Tom Kalin) Julianne Moore in the best Isabelle Huppert role of the year. When a bad mother with good clothes fucks her sexy son, we feel downright criminal in our celluloid enjoyment.

4 Man on Wire (James Marsh) To see Philippe Petit lie down on the tightrope strung between the World Trade Center buildings as the police attempt to arrest him is to experience the most joyous defiance of the law ever seen on film.

5 The Last Mistress (Catherine Breillat) A brilliant costume drama that gets down on its tripod to worship the amazingly pillowy lips of its male lead, Fu’ad Aït Aattou. The most seductively sexual on-screen storytelling since Salò.

6 My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin) I remain frozen in admiration of this homegrown masterpiece from the most reluctantly radical and humorously tortured maverick working in the movies today.

7 The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky) The director may be channeling the Dardenne brothers, but Mickey Rourke eerily reminds me of Jean Marais bringing beauty to the Beast in Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête. Just imagine Mickey’s Oscar speech!

8 Taxi to the Dark Side (Alex Gibney) Once you see this documentary about an Afghan cabbie who was at the wrong place at the wrong time in the US war on terror, you’ll feel like rioting in the streets. Go ahead. Turn over a car. It’s good for you.

9 Milk (Gus Van Sant) Sean Penn’s amazing performance as Harvey Milk will make everybody in America have a gay agenda. I also salute the director’s restraint in not showing Dan White eating Twinkies.

10 Cassandra’s Dream (Woody Allen) Colin Farrell’s best performance ever as a guilt-ridden murderer who lets his remorse eat him alive. And I’m certainly not sorry to tell you the critics were wrong on this one.

Hard Candy (2005)

We're flipping back a few lists again. I have a movie or two in the works from this Ward list, and one from the Todd list, but I need to obtain them before I can watch them. Hard Candy comes from Heather's picks a couple weeks back, and after just finishing it a few minutes ago I'm not too sure how I feel about it. I'm not sure that you can consider this a recommends because I'm not sure that I recommend it. It was good, there is no question about that...so in that sense I am saying that you might want to see this movie. But I don't know that any movie I've ever seen (minus maybe Meet the Parents) has made me feel this uncomfortable for the entire duration of the movie (in a completely different way than Meet the Parents).

Ellen Paige (Juno) plays a very un-Juno role in this one. I will only give away plot that occurs within the first 15 minutes, but basically not-Juno meets an older guy (I think my math award skills calculated that he was 32, and her supposedly 14) via the world wide web. You remember chat rooms, right? Do they still exist? Anyway, they talk on the internet, arrange a meeting, he reluctantly allows her to come back to his house, and she drugs him with a screwdriver (the beverage) and holds him captive in his own house. The plot that unfolds is good, and maybe now that I have finished it and don't feel so uncomfortable, and have had one hot toddy I might be realizing that I liked it. You be the judge for yourself. Here is the trailer if it helps:

Killing Yourself To Live--Chuck Klosterman

Mike Ward calls Killing Yourself To Live by Chuck Klosterman the funniest book he's ever read. This means a lot to me, so I just ordered it with a Barnes and Noble gift certificate that I had from Christmas. We'll see about this one, but I must admit excitement to give it a try. A seemingly good description of the book:

For 6,557 miles, Chuck Klosterman thought about dying. He drove a rental car from New York to Rhode Island to Georgia to Mississippi to Iowa to Minneapolis to Fargo to Seattle, and he chased death and rock 'n' roll all the way. Within the span of twenty-one days, Chuck had three relationships end -- one by choice, one by chance, and one by exhaustion. He snorted cocaine in a graveyard. He walked a half-mile through a bean field. A man in Dickinson, North Dakota, explained to him why we have fewer windmills than we used to. He listened to the KISS solo albums and the Rod Stewart box set. At one point, poisonous snakes became involved. The road is hard. From the Chelsea Hotel to the swampland where Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane went down to the site where Kurt Cobain blew his head off, Chuck explored every brand of rock star demise. He wanted to know why the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing...and what this means for the rest of us.

If the description interests you, there is a longish excerpt (I believe from the beginning of the book) RIGHT HERE! I could see how this guy's approach could annoy a number of readers over at Amazon that gave the book a bad review, but it seems right up my alley. Good call Mike Ward...looking forward to the rest.

On a side note, what do you all think of this Bon Iver guy? I'm listening to For Emma, Forever Ago at the recommendation of both TJ Huff and Mike Gittings. I think they hit it with this one. Real good so far. The first time I listened to it was in the car and the second time in some good headphones. This is a headphone album for sure.

Okkervil River--Stage Names

Yet another recommends that I initially wrote off as not liking, and on repeat listening it grew on me and kept growing until I found myself listening to it all the time. This is a Mike Ward recommends, but it was recommended to me about 6 months ago by brother Eric when I joined emusic.com.

Okkervil River is often tagged indie folk, and it was the overly folky elements that needed some time to grow on me. They come to us from Austin, Texas which by many accounts is the biggest music town in the country, so it isn't a bad place for a band to be coming from. Part of what bothered me initially with this record was that a lot of the songs sounded very much the same, with really similar chord progressions. On repeat listenings the subtle differences in the songs began to emerge and I realized how well it worked together as a whole album, with an album sound. Stage Names was my introduction to the band, and although I really enjoy it I haven't checked out any of their other albums. I think the next one for me is going to be the most recent album The Stand Ins, and I'll take it from there. For anyone looking for late night driving music, Stage Names is an album to buy.

I was amazed to find out that the official release of Stage Names contains only 9 tracks, and ends with John Allyn Smith Sails, a great song that ends with an acoustic blowout of Sloop John B. The emusic download that I got has 10 tracks and ends with a song called Love To A Monster. Upon further investigation it seems that this is an emusic.com special track tagged on the end of the album. The problem for all of you is that this is my favorite track on the album! I've included it here for those of you who have the album but not the track, and also for those of you who want to hear what Okkervil River sounds like, because this is a good example. I like how this guy sounds like he's really struggling to sing, and at any given moment the next line just won't come out. Pretty good. Once again, you can't post mp3's to blogspot, so I had to make an iMovie. I included some monster pictures for your enjoyment:

Michael Ward

This guy is definitely my kind of guy. In the past couple years we've become better friends through our involvment with the Baltimore-based glorified cover band the Egg Babies Orchestra. Mike is the keyboard wizard in the band, and we spend a lot of time in and out of rehearsals coming up with funny Davis scenarios. We also share an embarassing love of Saved By the Bell, which is not mentioned in his list. In addition to the Egg Babies, guy plays with Steve Hefter and the Friends, Friends, Friends, and does he also maybe play with Jason Dove? I'm not sure about that one, but I suspect. Regardless he plays a lot, and added keyboard work to Water School albums also, back when they were still a great band (a band at all).

Mike's approach to this list was similar to Todd's, but it's better that you read it in your own words:

In creating this list, I've looked over the other lists that exist so far, and realized many of them include things I love, so I tried to be different, if that's helpful at all. Also this list comprises of things that are more recent to me. Books I've read within the past 3 to 4 years that I really enjoyed, things I've discovered within the past 5 to 6 years in general (with a few exceptions). Also, if I were to say one of these things on the list is for you, it's absolutely the Chuck Klosterman book. If you haven't read it yet, do so. It's the funniest book I've ever read.

Will do, Mike! And now on to the Mike Ward list (all neatly organized in fives!):

Music: (five albums)

Okkervil River--Stage Names
The Zombies--Odessey and Oracle
Neko Case--Blacklisted
Ryan Adams--Cold Roses
The Shins--Chutes Too Narrow

Books: (five books)

Chuck Klosterman--Killing Yourself To Live
Yann Martel--The Life of Pi
John Hodgman--Areas of Expertise
Gabriel Garcia Marquez--One Hundred Years of Solitude
Steve Martin--Born Standing Up

Film: (five movies)

I think all of my faves have been named here already, so I've listed movies I discovered on a whim and really enjoy.

The Lives of Others
Bullets Over Broadway
Conversations With Other Women
Children of Men
The Prestige

TV Shows: (you guessed it, five TV shows)

Stella
Curb Your Enthusiasm--Season Six
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia--Season Three
Arrested Development
Extras--Season Two