Preggo Dynamite

Liss and I watched "Juno" a few days ago. The only way I can describe this movie is thus: Napoleon Dynamite Gets Pregnant.

I'm not sure what to say about the movie. There are some positive things and some very negative things to say, too. If you've read Liss's blog, you know that we both thought the language was really crude. It wasn't swearing, exactly, but really crude.

I was impressed with how it approached the subject of teen pregnancy in such an accessible way, but it portrayed pregnancy and adoption as simple and easy, as if any teen could handle it. They did little to convey how long and difficult pregnancy is.

The movie seemed long to me, though. I haven't checked my watch that much since "Dances with Wolves." Diablo Cody obviously has some talent as a writer, but nobody talks like that. The dialog was forced and there were too many cutesy phrases. I felt like she took the entire body of slang and tried to force it in every line. It was painful at times.

On the other hand, I laughed so hard that I cried. The dialog between the parents, right after she breaks the news of her pregnancy, is priceless. Pure comedic gold, baby.

Pork and Beans

My post entitled "Another Reason American Music is Dying" elicited an unprecedented volume of responses (2 comments), so I felt that it would be irresponsible of me to not present the counterpoint to the assertions made there.

I intend this post to be both a music review and a social commentary. To start, I ask the reader to view the following music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI

Don't read any further until you have watched the video.















No, really, don't read any further until you have watched the video.





Okay. Thanks for finally following directions. The video you just watched is "Pork and Beans" by Weezer. This is the first single from Weezer's highly anticipated Red Album.

This is one of only a few mainstream American bands that is still worth listening to. I also love the Foo Fighters. One of the reasons I like these bands is that they don't take themselves too seriously. Watch that video. Look at that mustache and cowboy hat on the album cover to the right. That is not taking yourself too seriously. For evidence of the Foo Fighters not taking themselves too seriously, please see the video for Learn to Fly.

For my actual review of the Pork and Beans video, I want to talk a little about all of the crazy web-based and pop culture references in this video. The reason I wanted you, the reader, to watch the video first is so that my comments about it would not spoil your enjoyment of the video by making it too cerebral.

The entire video, debuting on YouTube, is making fun of YouTube videos! It starts with the band, each at their computer in their bedroom, being recorded by the now-ubiquitous webcam. One of the quarters of the screen becomes a mildly familiar fat kid with headphones (I'm sure he had an earlier 15 minutes of fame embarrassing himself by singing off-key or something), then switches to the famous "Dramatic Gopher."

After that, we have the now hackneyed dork who thinks he's a ninja and hurts himself, a nice ongoing nod to the Diet Coke and Mentos Experiments, followed by 155 T-Shirts Man, and I'll spare you the link, but is that a spoof of Britney, or Chris Crocker spoofing Britney, and then followed up with now classic "All your base are belong to us."

After that we move on to "Miss Teen USA South Carolina," (Sorry my S.C. relatives, but this girl is a blight on your fair state) which awesomely morphs into light saber play. You have to love the producer at 1:38. Is that really Kevin Federline? Nice to see that he can make fun of himself, but does he get the joke?

Daft Hands lead out Daft Bodies on the chorus. The final crazy scene of the video has the instant internet classic "Charlie the Unicorn" in the background followed by PB&J. There are probably more new-media pop culture references in there, but I'm too lazy to strip them all out and find the links. From what I've got here, you get the idea, though. Anyway, the song is really catchy, and has a nice nerd-rebel message. To end my review of the video, I will use one word: Brilliant.

Now to the brief social commentary. The reason the Pork and Beans video works is that my generation all watches these crappy videos and YouTube and constantly sends each other links to the latest outrageous vid we think we're so hip to have stumbled upon. We quote Homestar and say stupid words in daily speech like "p0wned," and just generally have turned into a homogenous bunch of sheep who all consume the exact same media. I hardly watch TV like I used to. I catch the episodes of Lost and The Office on the ABC and NBC websites.

My little brothers don't even watch TV besides sports, they just collect videos on their video iPods. They are the ones that introduced me to Chaaaarlie.

Liahona? Nope.

So, Liss and I sat down and watched The Golden Compass last weekend. What the heck?

I was expecting a little more out of it. First of all, the "popular Christian media" skewered this film for being Satanic, agnostic, and atheist because the little girl is fighting the "church" and killing "god" (notice the little g).

The real problem with the movie is that the main character has no redeeming qualities. Lyra hates being proper, hates education, and won't listen to counsel. She thinks she knows what's best for her, and is encouraged for being independent and at one point, is praised for lying. The only good thing she does the entire movie is remain loyal to her friend. Blah.

This was a kid's film? Freaking violent. One bear knocked another's lower jaw off! Good glory. What little kid needs to see that? Then, in the final scene, you have souls exploding. It was actually quite graphic.

All in all, I don't think I'd want my little E to see it, and not because it's got an atheist author and an atheist bent. It just sucks.

Another Reason American Music is Dying

American Idol. That is all.