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  <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea</id>
  <title>Moving in Stereo</title>
  <subtitle>Most of what follows is true</subtitle>
  <author>
    <name>401K</name>
  </author>
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  <updated>2005-07-25T04:03:16Z</updated>
  <lj:journal userid="1504431" username="senor_badidea" type="personal"/>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:50332</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-07-25T00:03:00</title>
    <published>2005-07-25T04:03:16Z</published>
    <updated>2005-07-25T04:03:16Z</updated>
    <content type="html">There sure are some stupid people in the world.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:50089</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-07-19T01:28:00</title>
    <published>2005-07-19T05:28:02Z</published>
    <updated>2005-07-19T05:28:02Z</updated>
    <content type="html">This summer can't fucking end soon enough as far as I'm concerned.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:49863</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-07-15T17:08:00</title>
    <published>2005-07-15T21:09:41Z</published>
    <updated>2005-07-15T21:09:41Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Why aren't there any fancy, expensive restaurants that serve breakfast?  I mean, really fancy breakfasts?</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:49595</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-07-15T04:35:00</title>
    <published>2005-07-15T08:38:14Z</published>
    <updated>2005-07-15T08:38:14Z</updated>
    <content type="html">So for tonight's movie, I bit the bullet and dove into my least favorite genre:  anime.  Specifically, the granddaddy of it all, &lt;i&gt;Akira&lt;/i&gt;.  I'll say this about it:  If it had made any sense at all, it would have been one of the greatest movies I'd ever seen.  It has put me in the mood to play some Stinkoman 20X6 though.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:49194</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-07-12T16:00:00</title>
    <published>2005-07-12T20:15:46Z</published>
    <updated>2005-07-14T06:31:04Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Here is a list, of the 100 movies I have watched since school ended.  An asterisk in front of the movie means I had seen it already, and a (ss) after it means that there is some sick shit going on in this movie.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2001:  A Space Odyssey&lt;br /&gt;Action in the North Atlantic&lt;br /&gt;Ali&lt;br /&gt;Army of Darkness&lt;br /&gt;Audition (ss)&lt;br /&gt;*The Aviator&lt;br /&gt;Batman&lt;br /&gt;Batman Begins&lt;br /&gt;Blood Simple&lt;br /&gt;Das Boot&lt;br /&gt;Boyz N the Hood&lt;br /&gt;Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia&lt;br /&gt;Cabaret&lt;br /&gt;The Caine Mutiny &lt;br /&gt;Casablanca&lt;br /&gt;Chariots of Fire&lt;br /&gt;Cinderella Man&lt;br /&gt;Citizen Kane&lt;br /&gt;Close Encounters of the Third Kind&lt;br /&gt;The Commitments&lt;br /&gt;The Cook, The Thief, His Wife &amp; Her Lover (ss)&lt;br /&gt;Cool Hand Luke&lt;br /&gt;Crash (2004)&lt;br /&gt;Creepshow&lt;br /&gt;Cursed&lt;br /&gt;Dawn of the Dead (1978)&lt;br /&gt;Death Becomes Her&lt;br /&gt;Do the Right Thing&lt;br /&gt;Dog Day Afternoon&lt;br /&gt;Dogville&lt;br /&gt;Double Indemnity&lt;br /&gt;Eddie and the Cruisers&lt;br /&gt;Eraserhead (ss)&lt;br /&gt;Far From Heaven&lt;br /&gt;First Blood&lt;br /&gt;Flight of the Phoenix (2004)&lt;br /&gt;For Your Eyes Only&lt;br /&gt;Forbidden Planet&lt;br /&gt;Glengarry Glen Ross&lt;br /&gt;Goldfinger&lt;br /&gt;Harold and Maude&lt;br /&gt;Hide and Seek&lt;br /&gt;Hostage&lt;br /&gt;House of Flying Daggers&lt;br /&gt;House of the Damned&lt;br /&gt;House of the Dead&lt;br /&gt;The Hustler&lt;br /&gt;Ikiru&lt;br /&gt;*Jackie Brown&lt;br /&gt;Jaws&lt;br /&gt;Key Largo&lt;br /&gt;Kids (ss)&lt;br /&gt;Kung Fu Hustle&lt;br /&gt;Land of the Dead (ss)&lt;br /&gt;Last House on the Left (ss)&lt;br /&gt;The Last Seduction&lt;br /&gt;Leaving Las Vegas&lt;br /&gt;The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou&lt;br /&gt;Life of Brian&lt;br /&gt;The Living Daylights&lt;br /&gt;The Magnificent Seven&lt;br /&gt;Midnight Express&lt;br /&gt;Miller's Crossing&lt;br /&gt;Moonraker&lt;br /&gt;Mr. and Mrs. Smith&lt;br /&gt;My Own Private Idaho&lt;br /&gt;National Treasure&lt;br /&gt;Near Dark&lt;br /&gt;New Nightmare&lt;br /&gt;Night of the Living Dead (ss)&lt;br /&gt;Octopussy&lt;br /&gt;Paths of Glory&lt;br /&gt;Pay It Forward&lt;br /&gt;Peter Pan (2003)&lt;br /&gt;The Phantom of the Opera (2004)&lt;br /&gt;The Piano&lt;br /&gt;Planet of the Apes (1968)&lt;br /&gt;Ran&lt;br /&gt;The Replacement Killers&lt;br /&gt;Risky Business&lt;br /&gt;Rosemary's Baby&lt;br /&gt;Secondhand Lions&lt;br /&gt;*Sin City&lt;br /&gt;Soldier&lt;br /&gt;Spartacus&lt;br /&gt;The Spy Who Loved Me&lt;br /&gt;Star Wars Episode III:  Revenge of the Sith&lt;br /&gt;Storytelling&lt;br /&gt;Sweet and Lowdown&lt;br /&gt;The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) (ss)&lt;br /&gt;The Thing (ss)&lt;br /&gt;Unforgiven&lt;br /&gt;Unleashed&lt;br /&gt;War of the Worlds (2005)&lt;br /&gt;Wet Hot American Summer&lt;br /&gt;What's Eating Gilbert Grape?&lt;br /&gt;White Heat (1949)&lt;br /&gt;The Wild Bunch&lt;br /&gt;Wild Things&lt;br /&gt;Y Tu Mama Tambien</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:48198</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-07-03T03:24:00</title>
    <published>2005-07-03T07:23:51Z</published>
    <updated>2005-07-03T07:23:51Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Guys, I need help.  Say you'll help.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:48050</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://senor-badidea.livejournal.com/48050.html"/>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-30T23:50:00</title>
    <published>2005-07-01T03:50:24Z</published>
    <updated>2005-07-01T03:50:24Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I hate this job.  I hate this job.  I really fucking hate this job.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But not enough to quit this job.  Which sucks in its own way.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:47714</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://senor-badidea.livejournal.com/47714.html"/>
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    <title>Back to music</title>
    <published>2005-06-29T08:52:30Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-29T08:52:30Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Thoughts on songs:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Good Charlotte - I Just Wanna Live&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yeah, this is the Good Charlotte song that sounds like a Backstreet Boys song.  Just from that description, I would tell you that this song has no chance of being any good; I hold that no Backstreet Boys song has ever been worth half a shit, and I've never been really impressed with Good Charlotte.  But "I Just Wanna Live"... my god, it's actually kind of brilliant.  Before, Good Charlotte had pretensions of being actual punks in an actual punk band, rebelling against the system, taking on whiny celebrities in "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and railing against some kind of authority in "The Anthem."  Both those songs were terrible, partially because Good Charlotte were never punks like they pretend; they always wanted to be pop stars, and that's what they became.  When faced with stardom, most punk bands try to record angrier, more hardcore shit to prove that they haven't sold out.  Good Charlotte, however, didn't try to deny that they were sellouts (which is kind of hard when their lead singer is dating Hilary Duff); instead, they dove in so enthusiastically that they actually came out the other side.  I can almost imagine the thought processes behind this song; they're pop stars now, so they might as well sound like ones.  It's half-joking and half-serious.  It's about how tough it is being a celebrity, because that's what a lot pop songs are about nowadays.  And it's blatantly self-referential, also because most pop songs are nowadays.  It's a spoof of boy bands recorded by the biggest boy band in the country.  I love that they went there, but I love the song just on how it sounds too.  When the guitars punch in on the chorus, I won't pretend that my soul doesn't go "fuck yeah!", and the second verse, the one about his different suits, is just fantastically written.  This might also be just me, but I get a real Electric Six vibe from this song: tired cliches twisted into weird new shapes, on top of an awesome dance rock beat.  I think this was my favorite song of last year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Limp Bizkit - Nookie&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rivers Cuomo, lead singer of Weezer, is a dork.  So are They Might Be Giants, Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday, and the Barenaked Ladies.  They're dorks and they play dork-rock for dorks and other people who weren't popular in high school. If you like any of these groups, you probably don't like Limp Bizkit, but Fred Durst probably wasn't any more popular than Rivers in high school either.  He calls allegiance to other losers of the world in the first line of the song, where he labels himself a reject.  I, being a good dork, used to despise "Nookie"; after going through my own ugly breakup, I gave it a second listen.  I can't deny that it has a killer bassline.  Listening to it, I realize that it's basically an angry, misogynist song about being humiliated and hurt by a girl, which makes it not that much different from a lot of emo songs.  Yet "Nookie" seems to have nothing in common with, say, Dashboard Confessional; Dashboard Confessional is whiny and angst-ridden, and "Nookie" turns a song about being cheated on into macho celebration.  Let me see if I can put the lyrics into more straightforward terms:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;center&gt;My girl cheated on me several times&lt;br /&gt;I'm a loser and an idiot for letting it happen&lt;br /&gt;I was utterly destroyed and humiliated&lt;br /&gt;BUT I GOT LAID!&lt;br /&gt;BUT I GOT LAID!&lt;br /&gt;HOLY FUCKING SHIT I GOT LAID!&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Christ, that's embarrasing.  Most dork bands embrace their dorkiness, but Fred Durst commits the unforgivable sin:  He's a dork trying to look like he's cool, trying to look like a winner in the face of obvious loserdom, and too dumb to realize that it only makes him look lamer than before.  Also, rhyming "nookie" with "cookie" is just crappy songwriting.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Jimmy Buffett - Margaritaville&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Everything about Jimmy Buffett rubs me the wrong way.  Everything.  I didn't use to be able to explain why, but I think I've got it now.  A good deal of Buffett's songs are about drinking, and it would be a rare Parrothead indeed who didn't enjoy their alcohol.  But Parrotheads, or at least the image of Parrotheads I get from Jimmy Buffett songs, don't drink to party, they don't drink to kill the pain, they don't drink to escape.  Basically, they drink so that they can lie around drunk in a beach chair.  I don't know about you, but that just doesn't seem like worthy subject matter to me.  The basis of the Parrothead lifestyle seems to revolve around lazy, bloated hedonism.  (Jimmy Buffett is the only artist I can think of who had a hit song about eating a good meal.)  "Margaritaville"'s subject matter is surprisingly dark, it's about a guy who's slowly losing his life to booze.  But Buffett doesn't make any attempt to play up the subtle horror of this; the song, like the song's narrator, is mellow to the point of deadness, content to lie down and chill with a glass in hand and a big stupid grin on its face.  I can think of good songs about relaxing, but this isn't it.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Jason Mraz - Wordplay&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh. MAN. Disasters like this don't come around every day, people.  I don't know what you thought Jason Mraz's breakthrough hit "The Remedy," but "Wordplay" is bad in all the ways that song was, and more.  Mraz has written an entire song about &lt;i&gt;how well he rhymes&lt;/i&gt;.  His misguided belief that he's a rapper has gotten dangerously out of hand.  I mean, yes, he does have flow, certainly more so than your average white boy with an acoustic guitar; but his four-syllable rhymes usually make no goddamn sense (for example in "The Remedy," where he rhymes "dangerous liaison" with "strange enough new play on... words").  Another problem is that he's mostly got very little to actually write &lt;i&gt;about&lt;/i&gt;, and that reaches critical level here, where the song is basically about itself.  "The sophomore slump is an uphill battle," he sings/raps.  Also, "For the people write me off like I'm a one-hit wonder, got to find another way to keep from goin' under."  And in the chorus:  "Yeah the Mr. A-Z, they say I'm all about the wordplay."  The vast majority of rappers have written songs about their rhymes and flow, true, but they were always aggressive and intimidating; they were saying that they could rhyme better than you, and by implication fight and fuck better than you too.  "Wordplay," on the other hand, is soft-edged and simpering; and for all the bragging he does on this track, Mraz never once actually says he's BETTER than anyone, because honestly, the thought of anyone being intimidated by a runty spaz like this guy is just hilarious.  So what we've got in the end is this gonads-less folksinger singing about how clever he is.  The only comparison I can think of is Martin, the nerd from the Simpsons, proclaiming in a dream sequence, "I am the wondrous wizard of Latin!  I am a dervish of declension and a conjurer of conjugation, with a million hit points and maximum charisma!"  I find myself laughing hysterically right now.  When you're being outdone on manliness by the Barenaked Ladies (who, for the record, never had to call attention to &lt;i&gt;their&lt;/i&gt; clever wordplay), it's time to hang it up.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:47360</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-26T19:59:00</title>
    <published>2005-06-26T23:59:48Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-26T23:59:48Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I got an idea for anti-Hot Topic T-shirts, and I thought they were going to be really cool, but then I realized that they'd probably sell them at Hot Topic.  ...  I think I'm going to dress as an emo for Halloween.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:47235</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-26T16:28:00</title>
    <published>2005-06-26T20:27:40Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-26T20:27:40Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Who wants to meet me in Lynchburg on Friday?</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:47013</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://senor-badidea.livejournal.com/47013.html"/>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-23T19:54:00</title>
    <published>2005-06-23T23:54:03Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-23T23:54:03Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I confess:  I think everyone in the world should be more like me.  Is that so wrong?</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:46459</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://senor-badidea.livejournal.com/46459.html"/>
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    <title>Done done done with all the fuck fuck fucking around</title>
    <published>2005-06-16T05:01:20Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-16T05:01:44Z</updated>
    <lj:music>Modern Mouse - Ocean Breathes Salty</lj:music>
    <content type="html">Just got back from the Hottest House concert.  I'd heard they'd had a reputation for being drunken assholes in concert, but they kicked some finely tuned ass tonight.  WHOOOO!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here's something odd; for being a weird, alternative/indie band, they attracted an entirely different crowd than I expected them to.  When I went to see Rilo Kiley, I was surrounded by indie chicks and emo fags.  And I thought, wow, I'm easily the coolest guy here.  This concert, on the other hand, was considerably preppier (and that includes the girl I was with).  The dyed-hair-and-glasses crowd was there, too, but they were significantly outnumbered.  You'd think I had showed up at a Coldplay concert.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To quote some girl I overheard while leaving:  "I was expecting a bunch of grungy, pretentious people slamming into each other, but it was all... tasteful preppies."  (I take offense at this; preppies are just as pretentious as the hipsters.)</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:46207</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-15T01:19:00</title>
    <published>2005-06-15T05:26:36Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-15T05:26:36Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Okay, building on my horrible nightmare where I (gasp) had a kid, I also had to proofread a review today of &lt;i&gt;Very Bad Things&lt;/i&gt;, which also argued that parenthood was terrifying.  Then I watched another movie which I think said the same thing, &lt;i&gt;Eraserhead&lt;/i&gt;, which for the record is a movie TOO FUCKED UP FOR WORDS.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You know, I happen to like kids.  But I'm a little freaked out right now by them.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:45929</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-14T12:46:00</title>
    <published>2005-06-14T16:46:00Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-14T16:46:00Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I had a dream last night that I had a son.  His name was Michael.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Christ, it was a scary dream.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:45801</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-08T04:11:00</title>
    <published>2005-06-08T08:44:01Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-08T08:44:01Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I've watched a great many films I've watched since school ended (35 movies in 45 days), and a lot of them have been horror films.  Looking back at my notes, I see &lt;i&gt;The Thing,&lt;/i&gt; the 2003 remake of &lt;i&gt;The Texas Chainsaw Massacre&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Night of the Living Dead&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;House of the Dead&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;House of the Damned&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Last House on the Left&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Near Dark&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;Rosemary's Baby&lt;/i&gt;.  Some of these movies have been pretty lame (&lt;i&gt;House of the Damned&lt;/i&gt; couldn't stop finding ways to cheaply rip off &lt;i&gt;Poltergeist&lt;/i&gt;, and &lt;i&gt;House of the Dead&lt;/i&gt; is every kind of awful, from traditional awfulness to distinctly unique kinds of awful).  Of the films I listed, I'd say Wes Craven's &lt;i&gt;Last House on the Left&lt;/i&gt; is the scariest; there's some depraved shit in that movie (I'm not talking about movie monster shit or anything, this is more realistic, true-to-life type horror) and it's intercut with some incredibly lame comic relief that only makes the other scenes more horrifying.  I won't explain what the horror is, but the comic relief are these two bumbling cops trying to get to the scene of the action.  We get all these soul-scarringly hideous scenes, and then we get these bumbling cops, with this dorky hyuk-hyuk Smokey and the Bandit-type country music in the background, and we're expected to LAUGH at this, after the other horrifying things we've seen.  On one hand, this is terrible filmmaking, because the scenes just DON'T WORK.  But on the other hand, the fact that they actually expect you to laugh enhances the effect of the other scenes.  It's a jarring reminder that some truly sickening and horrifying things are happening in the world, and somewhere some diseased fuck thinks it's funny.  &lt;i&gt;Last House on the Left&lt;/i&gt; really makes you feel like shit for every dead baby joke you've ever told.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, none of the films I listed, not even &lt;i&gt;Last House on the Left&lt;/i&gt;, holds a candle to the movie I saw tonight, a Japanese film called &lt;i&gt;Audition&lt;/i&gt;.  I can only say: HO. LEE. &lt;b&gt;FUCK&lt;/b&gt;.  It's difficult to explain; &lt;i&gt;Audition&lt;/i&gt; doesn't feel like a horror film most of the time, because most of the time it isn't. This is nothing at all like &lt;i&gt;The Ring&lt;/i&gt; or &lt;i&gt;The Grudge&lt;/i&gt; or anything like that; there's a lot more going on here than just killings and such, and there are no creepy little kids.  But Jesus Christ, when the shit's going down... oh man.  I don't know if I can sleep tonight.  This is the kind of movie where you actively hope the movie will cop out and tell you that it was only a dream.  I'm not going to spoil it for you, but I easily could. I doubt any of you will watch it, 'cause this is a hard movie to find.  If any of you can get it though, and have a high tolerance for this kind of movie, I highly suggest you watch it.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:45550</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-07T22:56:00</title>
    <published>2005-06-08T03:01:55Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-08T03:01:55Z</updated>
    <content type="html">So we were sitting and talking, and she told me she had terminal cancer.  I barely know her, but she was very open about it.  And she wasn't at all sad or down or anything.  And she talked about it for a while, and she explained all her thoughts about it, and why she wasn't crying and miserable, and stuff like that.  It was like a scene straight out of a movie, where the dying older person imparts all their collected wisdom to the troubled youngster and straightens him out.  Like &lt;i&gt;Scent of a Woman&lt;/i&gt;, for example.  Or "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers, really.  Except that I don't particularly think that I need straightening out; I feel like the experience was wasted on me.  I was just sort of stunned by it.  Things like that don't happen to you every day.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:45276</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-06T22:03:00</title>
    <published>2005-06-07T02:02:55Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-07T02:02:55Z</updated>
    <content type="html">THE NEW STRONG BAD EMAIL DEFINES MY LIFE.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:44952</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://senor-badidea.livejournal.com/44952.html"/>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-06-05T18:42:00</title>
    <published>2005-06-05T23:02:58Z</published>
    <updated>2005-06-05T23:02:58Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Christ, I am the shittiest waiter in history.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By the way, I'm a waiter now.  And I really suck at it.  I am far, far too scatter-brained for deal with the needs of four separate groups of patrons.  This comes from my mom.  My dad has a mind like a steel trap, and he's one of the most focused people I've ever met.  My mom, on the other hand, tells my little brother to do the dishes five seconds after she watched him finish doing them.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I also have another job, one that doesn't pay anything but looks good on my resume.  I'm now copy editor for I Viddied It on the Screen (&lt;a href="http://cc.usu.edu/~alexjack/viddied.html"&gt;http://cc.usu.edu/~alexjack/viddied.html&lt;/a&gt;), a wonderful movie review site by this one really great writer.  He writes these long, masturbatory essays on various films.  He's not much of a reviewer, and he spoils movies like crazy, but he goes places most other writers don't.  He managed to find parallels between '30s movie musical &lt;i&gt;42nd Street&lt;/i&gt; and '90s Japanese horror film &lt;i&gt;Audition&lt;/i&gt;, argued that &lt;i&gt;The Ewok Adventure&lt;/i&gt; was racist against Ewoks, and made the case for &lt;i&gt;Gremlins&lt;/i&gt; as an attack on Western cultural values.  I don't agree with the guy all that often, but I like his work a great deal; I've passed off a lot of his insights and comments as my own.  Read him!</content>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:44783</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-05-31T04:48:00</title>
    <published>2005-05-31T08:48:42Z</published>
    <updated>2005-05-31T08:48:42Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Gonna be in Lynchburg for my birthday, this Friday.  If you at all can possibly, possibly be there, please do so.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:44419</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://senor-badidea.livejournal.com/44419.html"/>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-05-24T14:43:00</title>
    <published>2005-05-24T18:43:44Z</published>
    <updated>2005-05-24T18:43:44Z</updated>
    <content type="html">&lt;a href="http://lukecollison.com/mos/mp3/15_Ice_Ice-Bacon.mp3"&gt;http://lukecollison.com/mos/mp3/15_Ice_Ice-Bacon.mp3&lt;/a&gt;</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:43915</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://senor-badidea.livejournal.com/43915.html"/>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-05-23T18:50:00</title>
    <published>2005-05-23T22:51:14Z</published>
    <updated>2005-05-23T22:51:14Z</updated>
    <content type="html">You know how you can tell Jet Li is a great actor?  Because he can sell HEADBUTTING someone's FIST and make it look like a good fighting maneuver.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Go see Unleashed.  It is an honestly great movie.</content>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:43594</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-05-22T18:35:00</title>
    <published>2005-05-22T22:43:17Z</published>
    <updated>2005-05-22T22:43:17Z</updated>
    <content type="html">In the mall, there's an ad for Skechers featuring Christina Aguilera leaning against a car, sticking her ass out and with this really shocked look on her face.  Elsewhere in the mall, there's another ad where she's dressed up in a police uniform/stripper outfit.  And also, there's one that combines the two images so that there's Car Christina with Cop Christina right behind her.  Here, &lt;a href="http://www.undercover.com.au/pics/christinaaguileraskec.jpg"&gt;look at it&lt;/a&gt;.  It might just be me, but there's a clear implication that she's about to be felt up by her own self.  It's supposed to be sexy but it kind of weirds me out.</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:43374</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-05-22T12:05:00</title>
    <published>2005-05-22T16:10:02Z</published>
    <updated>2005-05-22T16:10:02Z</updated>
    <lj:music>Carl Thomas - Kung Fu Fighting</lj:music>
    <content type="html">In the ongoing ninjas vs. pirates debate, Josh and I both agreed that Luke Skywalker and the Jedi were definitely ninjas, whereas Han Solo was definitely a pirate.  At the time, that fact did nothing to resolve the issue.  However, I think that following Star Wars Episode III, everyone who sees this can come to the following conclusion:  The Jedi are LAME.  They GO OUT LIKE PUNKS.  I don't know about you, but I can't imagine Han Solo dying in such a pathetic fashion.</content>
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  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:43235</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-05-21T05:00:00</title>
    <published>2005-05-21T09:00:13Z</published>
    <updated>2005-05-21T09:00:13Z</updated>
    <content type="html">I JUST WANT TO SLEEP IS THAT TOO MUCH TO FUCKING ASK JUST A GODDAMN NIGHT'S SLEEP?</content>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <id>urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:senor_badidea:42585</id>
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    <title>senor_badidea @ 2005-05-12T01:18:00</title>
    <published>2005-05-12T05:44:32Z</published>
    <updated>2005-05-12T07:15:07Z</updated>
    <content type="html">Dealing with the breakup was a whole lot easier when all you guys were around.  Away from you guys, I have nothing to take my mind off her.  I have absolutely NOTHING TO DO and I am absolutely hating it.  I haven't yet found a job, though Britni says I might be able to get a job at Build-A-Bear.  Here's hoping.  It doesn't look like I'm going to get my computer back any time soon.  Ideally, what I'd do is scope out chicks, but I'm not a summer fling kinda guy.  And one thing I don't want to do is try to start a real relationship with someone down here, because I'm not doing the long-distance thing again.  Long distance is one of the most difficult, backbreaking things a relationship can endure (some of you know this firsthand, and some of you are about to find out, sorry for mentioning it).  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, because I've lost my computer, and with it most of my music, what I've been doing lately is watching movies.  Lots of them.  I've watched nine in the eleven days I've been here.  I watched two today.  I have three more rentals waiting to be watched at later dates.  I've got the rest of the summer, and I have a lot of movies to plow through.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These are the ones I've watched so far, I've got a little something to say about each of them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="http://shopping.yahoo.com/video/images/muze/dvd/sm/51/138751.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://shopping.yahoo.com/video/images/muze/dvd/sm/09/144709.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/sony_pictures_classics/kung_fu_hustle/kungfuhustle_releaseposter.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/walt_disney/national_treasure/nationaltreasure_boxart.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://shopping.yahoo.com/video/images/muze/dvd/sm/65/197565.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://shopping.yahoo.com/video/images/muze/dvd/sm/01/187001.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src="http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/new_line_cinema/secondhand_lions/secondhandlions_poster.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/dimension_films/sin_city/sincity_releaseposter.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://shopping.yahoo.com/video/images/muze/dvd/sm/00/222500.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;2001:  A Space Odyssey&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Was I captivated the entire time I was watching this?  No.  No, I was not.  There are a lot of long, drawn-out sequences where my mind started wandering about various things.  That said, this is one of the greatest movies I've ever seen and everyone should see it.  Preferably alone, because this is not a movie to see with friends, it's a movie to sit .  It's also without a doubt the prettiest film I've ever seen.  The images in this movie are absolutely gorgeous.  The movie is most famous for HAL, the evil supercomputer robot, but the movie isn't really about HAL at all.  HAL is only there to give moviegoers something to hold onto, to have something in the movie actually, y'know, &lt;i&gt;happen&lt;/i&gt;.  But what the movie is about, apparently, is finding God.  You've got to watch this, all the way to end.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Commitments&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, this is about a group of poor unemployed Irish shlubs who get together to form a kickass Motown cover band.  It's all their manager's idea, they all think they're too white to do it, but he convinces them that deep down, they're black.  And he actually tries to get them to say "I'm black and I'm proud."  That's funny.  This is a pretty good movie, doesn't really go anywhere (see also:  "That Thing You Do") but the attraction is more in the music than anything.   The music kicks ass.  I also like how it basically says that playing jazz as the exact opposite of having soul (not a big fan of jazz myself).  A minor problem:  They all seem to think that they have a chance to make it big and sell albums.  &lt;i&gt;They're a cover band.&lt;/i&gt;  They play the songs well, but not really any differently than the originals.  They needed to start writing new material, and we never see them do that.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Kung Fu Hustle&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Eh, I've seen funnier.  I wish I knew what exactly this movie was parodying; I don't watch a whole lot of karate movies.  I prefer Jackie Chan movies.  I know exactly what's supposed to be funny about Jackie Chan movies: that Jackie Chan slid down a rope to escape bad guys and got severe rope burn on his hands.  This movie, I don't get as much.  I get the feeling it's cycling through a whole bunch of parodies.  The main good guy gets replaced by a different set of good guys, the main bad guys gets replaced by a different kind of bad guy, then we get a different good guy.  The action sequences switch from Bruce Lee grindhouse kung fu to Crouching Tiger-style wirefighting to Road Runner cartoons.  Kung Fu Hustle carries all the weight of a Road Runner cartoon, too, but about half as funny (by which I mean it's still pretty hilarious.)  Not a complete waste of money.  As a pure film, it's smarter and better than Kung Pow, but not quite as funny. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;National Treasure&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God, this is a STUPID, STUPID movie.  An utter ripoff of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," when it's not ripping off "The Da Vinci Code."  The number of plotholes and implausibilities are so massive that I can't possibly get into it here (you'll have to wait for when I record the DVD commentary for it), but here's just one of them.  Nicolas Cage discovers that there's a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence.  He feels that it's time to give up, because you can't just go grab the Declaration and inspect it.  His financier and teammate Ian offers to steal it, but Cage refuses to let him.  So Ian, revealing himself to be the villain of the movie, decides to do it himself and kill Cage.  Cage escapes, and decides that he has to "protect" the Declaration from Ian, by stealing it himself.  So he refused to do it then, but he's perfectly willing to do it now.  And he does so, and of course while he has it, he reads the map on the back.  So why be so high and mighty when the subject first came up?  What makes him think that it's okay for him to steal it but not Ian?  What does he think Ian's going to do with the Declaration, blow his nose on it and feed it to a goat?  Stupid, stupid movie.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Near Dark&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've made my distaste for vampire movies clear in the past.  This movie is different, because it doesn't deal with the whole vast spooky underworld that I despise so much.  No, the vampires here live out of an RV and kill people on the road.  Also, it's kind of a Western, in that everyone wears cowboy hats and spurs and listens to country music.  It's a trucker vampire movie.  If any of you have ever heard of this movie, you've also probably heard of the bar scene, which kicks so much ass that my ass hurts.  Other parts of this movie do not kick so much ass, the worst part being SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT that they can cure vampirism with a fucking blood transfusion.  Ugh.  Stupid.  But overall, a pretty good movie, better than From Dusk Til Dawn.  Also, if you're accustomed to Bill Paxton being boring (Twister, anyone?), you've really got to see this.  He is nothing short of badass in this movie.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Night of the Living Dead&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This movie has the most killer fakeout I've ever seen.  Huge spoilers come here; here's what happens.  There's this girl, the first character we're introduced to.  She's the first one on screen, the first to see the zombies, she finds a house with a bunch of other people and hides out there.  For the rest of the movie, she just kind of sits there in a state of shock, catatonic.  For much of the film, she's a useless character.  Later, the people in the house decide that they need to escape.  However, their first escape attempt ended with their only vehicle being destroyed.  The leader is talking about maybe trekking off to find another car, and the girl – who has spent the last hour or so doing nothing – babbles out, "You can't start the car, Johnny has the keys."  She's rambling deliriously about her brother, who we saw killed (but not zombified) in the first scene, and she's also talking about the car, which she steered in neutral all the way to the house and is not far away.  You can tell what happens next, they're going to try to go back to where Johnny was killed, get the keys and drive away.  At least that's what I thought was going to happen; what actually happened was that the leader was saying "Tell us more about the keys" and then EVERYONE GOT MOTHERFUCKING EATEN.  It's like they wrote the entire script out, then erased the last ten pages and replaced it with "everyone gets motherfucking eaten".  I'm not really describing the ending accurately, but believe me, I was blown out of my seat. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Secondhand Lions&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I watched this because my dad wanted me to.  It is well-acted but it is gooey and sappy.  Also possibly misogynistic.  It has an ending which shits on the entire rest of the movie.  I do not recommend it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sin City&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yeah, I went and watched it a second time, it kicks that much ass.  After a second viewing, I've decided that the best performance out of everyone is easily Nick Stahl as The Yellow Bastard.  Many of the actors have trouble saying the stilted noir dialogue believably (especially Jessica Alba and, disturbingly, Michael Madsen).  Nick Stahl, though, delivers every line like he means it, and he's got some difficult ones ("She left not a clue!").  Personally, I also thought Brittany Murphy was spectacular, and I wish she had had more scenes.  I honestly wonder what Jessica Alba and Robert Rodriguez were doing with Alba's character.  I mean, I know Alba refused to do the nude scenes, but the girl is so Disney-fied, I honestly wondered if they had cast Hilary Duff.  She seems like she's a 13-year-old who just heard about sex.  I've since read the comic books and Nancy Callahan is a lot sluttier in the originals, even when she was a child.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Wild Things&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I hate most twist endings.  I hated the ending of "The Village."  I hated the ending of "Secret Window."  I hated the ending of "The Usual Suspects."  I think a twist ending has the tendency to reduce a lot of movies to misleading garbage.  But here's a movie where they decide that, if they're going to be misleading garbage, they're going to be most garbage of them all.  So, you know, why have one or even two twist endings when you could have FIVE, in rapid succession?  Also, Neve Campbell and Denise Richards make out, and you can't beat that!  This is trash of the highest order.</content>
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