The Lone Gunmen Predicted 9/11

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction - or is it? In March, 2001 a TV series pilot aired on Fox television that depicted of all things, an airliner being flown into the World Trade Center (albeit with a different set of culprits and motives than the actual event). Keep in mind that this was nearly 6 months before 9/11 occurred. The show was called The Lone Gunmen and was a spin-off of the wildly popular  X-files. In the X-files series, the characters known as the Lone Gunmen served as a sort of 3 man cheap-laffs team. They ran a little read-conspiracy theory newsletter and helped Mulder and Scully out of any number of scrapes.

The DVD cover for the Lone Gunmen

As the X-files was finally winding down in 2001, the producers looked to the Gunmen to provide a spin-off into the next generation of X-files like paranoia. The show looked promising when it was first aired - the pilot followed in the best tradition of the x-files and the characters seemed to be able to stand alone w/o help from Fox Mulder. But then 9/11 happened and the show wasn't picked up for a new season. The show would have likely been cancelled anyway given the low ratings, which was partly due to its time-slot and off-season start. In fact, one has to wonder whether or not 9/11 would have happened at all if this show had been a hit. The initial response to the attacks on 9/11 included quite a number of statements by officials that just such an event could not have been foreseen or otherwise planned for. But as the pilot proved, the main idea of the attack had clearly been foreseen - by Hollywood anyway.

After 9/11, the government did actually enlist creative talent from Hollywood to help envision various types of scenarios not unlike those from the Lone Gunmen

It is fascinating to see the relationships between fiction and non-fiction, between popular culture and historical events. The strange case of The Lone Gunmen stands as one of the more profound examples of that - one that most people aren't even aware of...

This is the opening sequence from the Lone Gunmen pilot episode

Topic Reference	Ratings & Reviews	How to Watch
Lone Gunmen - Wikipedia	Lone Gunmen on Rotten Tomatoes	From Netflix
Lone Gunmen - IMDB	DVD Verdict	From Amazon

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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Freedom - A Raving Playlist

What is Freedom, what does it really mean? Is it the absence of tyranny? Is Freedom the ability to do what you want, go where you want and be yourself? Or is it perhaps the ability to express your opinions and worship how you want to without being forced to think and behave the way someone else wants you to? These are all deep questions - questions that have relatively little to do with this playlist that we happened to name "Freedom." There is one thing that we're certain of though, you can listen to these tunes while you're pondering those great questions and chances are you will determine what Freedom means to you - and after all - that's the only thing that really matters isn't it?

As usual you can find this list on Spotify - and guess what - that's free too (if you don't mind the ads)!

John, when he was Cougar not Mellencamp - sporting some 80's hair

Minutes to Memories is Mellencamp's best song from his best Album - scarecrow

Freedom:
John Mellencamp – Minutes To Memories
Vangelis – Theme From Antarctica
10000 Maniacs – Across The Fields
The Black Crowes – Remedy
Audioslave – Be Yourself
Journey – Be Good To Yourself
The B-52's – Roam
Nirvana – Lithium
Vangelis – Blade Runner (End Titles)
The Black Crowes – Been A Long Time (Waiting on Love)
The Black Crowes – Hard To Handle
Three Dog Night – Never Been To Spain
Matchbox Twenty – 3 am
America – A Horse with No Name
Vangelis – Closing Titles From "Mutiny On The Bounty"
George Harrison – What Is Life - 2001 Digital Remaster
The Black Crowes – She Talks To Angels
Sister Hazel – All For You
The Allman Brothers Band – In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed - 1971/Live At The Fillmore East
Nirvana – Something In The Way
Orleans – Dance With Me
Boston – Don't Look Back
3 Doors Down – It's Not My Time
Vangelis – The Tao Of Love
The Cranberries – Linger
Santana – Maria Maria - Radio Mix
The Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider
Vangelis – Memories Of Green
Naked Eyes – Always Something There To Remind Me
Vangelis – L'Enfant
The Killers – All These Things That I've Done
Genesis – Land Of Confusion - 2007 Remastered Album Version
The Black Crowes – Jealous Again
Grand Funk Railroad – I'm Your Captain/Closer To Home (Medley)
John Mellencamp – Our Country - Rock Version
Vangelis – La Petite Fille De La Mer
Todd Rundgren – I Saw The Light
R.E.M. – Losing My Religion
Supertramp – Take The Long Way Home - Remastered Version/2010
Spandau Ballet – True
Jack Johnson – Better Together
George Michael – Freedom! '90
The Cranberries – Dreams
Vangelis – Love Theme From " Bladerunner"
U2 – Heartland
John Mellencamp – Authority Song
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird
Tom Petty – Free Fallin'
Eric Clapton – After Midnight
Dave Matthews Band – Funny the Way It Is
Counting Crows – American Girls
Santana – Samba Pa' Ti
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Learning To Fly
Pink Floyd – Run Like Hell
Bruce Springsteen – Born In The U.S.A.
Roxy Music – More Than This
Billy Ocean – Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car
Foo Fighters – My Hero
Sara Bareilles – Love Song
Anberlin – Breathe
Plain White T's – Hey There Delilah
Heather Masse – I Don’t Wanna Wake Up Today
INXS – Need You Tonight
Foo Fighters – My Hero
Steve Winwood – Back In The High Life Again
Neil Young – Rockin' In The Free World
Lenny Kravitz – Supersoulfighter
U2 – Sweetest Thing - The Single Mix
Dave Matthews Band – American Baby
Peter Gabriel – Red Rain - Live In London/2011
Adam Gussow – Freedom For My People - Excerpt
Everclear – Santa Monica
The Animals – House Of The Rising Sun
David Bowie – Blue Jean
Franz Ferdinand – What She Came For

Well, their songs have little to do with Freedom, but we still like them anyway

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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10 Signs the End is Near

There were a lot of people who were fairly disappointed when the planet didn't vaporize on May 21st, 2011, especially those poor bastards who gave away everything they owned in anticipation of the joyous event. Never fear though, because Apocalypse 2.0 is coming to a planet near you this year on December 21st! (the date of the 13th Mayan Bactune). Yes, that's right - we're pretty sure this time that the end is truly near. All of the signs are here - all the planets are lining up and those Mayans are going to get their revenge after all (or so we've been told by some of their descendants who now work in a Corona Cerveza factory). We may even have to come up with a new set of Apocalypse Party Tips as the last one may have already been used in Apocalypse 1.0 parties and probably wouldn't be as fun a second time.

How can we a prediction like this with such certainty? Well - because we researched this through a painstaking processes of Internet browsing that lasted for hours. The Mayans were in contact with the Chariots of the God's Aliens who by the way are a lot nicer and not at all related to the X-Files aliens or the Alien alien or even the Predator alien. Anyway, these nicer ones told the Mayans what was up to give us a chance to build our own escape ships and go somewhere else but maybe they should have told the Spanish because the Spanish or Aztecs or someone wiped out all of the Mayans and thus we're all screwed. Still not convinced? Well, we've also been given many, many signs that the end is near and we've include the top 10 below.

Could people with hats like these be wrong? We seriously doubt it

The Top 10 Apocalyptic Omens:

1. The Fiscal Cliff will lead to tax increases for millionaires which will of course signify the end of the world.
2. Tim Tebow can't win any games - so God has forsaken us.
3. Saturday Night Live isn't funny anymore - wait that's happened like 6 times before - oh it's the 7th time - got it.
4. George Lucas gave away Star Wars.
5. Obama won a second term and now all those dozens of books and movies telling us how bad the second term will be have to come true, right?
6. Windows 8 has been launched and Breaking Dawn part 2 will be the biggest debut in movie history, yuk!
7. We've run out of ideas for new Zombie movies or TV shows.
8. Real-life Zombies are eating people's faces - how gross is that? (so maybe there's one more idea left)
9. The weather is so bad that even Locusts refuse to go outdoors.
10. Aliens have placed detour signs around Earth which is why we've witnessed a big slowdown in alien abductions and UFO sightings.

It turns out that the Nazca lines in Peru were in fact the Nascar lines - a particularly difficult track for alien pod racers. Another recent theory posits that this is in fact a sign wherein one group of irate aliens were flipping the bird to another. We may never know for sure as we're all going to die on December 21st. 

We told you Corona Beer was involved, didn't we, huh, huh...

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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War & Peace - The Playlist

Well, in case you're worried - we don't have the 1812 Overture on here but we must admit that this week's release of Anna Karenina did inspire us somewhat in coming up with our theme. War is a unique part of the human condition, but then again so is peace. Hopefully one day we can have the latter without the former - in meantime we'll need to make music about why we do the things we do. A decade of wars doesn't mean we'll always be at war - we ain't no fortunate sons...

As usual this list is on available on Spotify.

John Fogerty and the rest of Creedence - born on the Bayou...

 

War & Peace - The Playlist:
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son
U2 – Bullet The Blue Sky
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World
Genesis – Land Of Confusion - 2007 Remastered Album Version
Billy Joel – Only The Good Die Young - Single Version
U2 – Until The End Of The World
Fatboy Slim – Weapon Of Choice
The Black Crowes – Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution
John Mellencamp – Crumblin' Down
Jon Bon Jovi – Blaze Of Glory
David Bowie – Heroes - Single Version;2002 Digital Remaster
Dave Matthews Band – When The World Ends
The Black Crowes – She Talks To Angels
Guns N' Roses – Civil War
Billy Joel – We Didn't Start The Fire
Black Sabbath – War Pigs
Alice In Chains – Rooster
Chris Cornell – You Know My Name
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Run Through The Jungle
Cat Stevens – Peace Train
Green Day – 21 Guns
Rob Zombie – War Zone
Dave Matthews Band – The Space Between
Sting – Russians
U2 – Mothers Of The Disappeared
Dave Matthews Band – Time Bomb
Bob Dylan – Blowin' in the Wind
The Wailers – I Shot The Sheriff
Joe Cocker – Shelter Me (Single Edit)
Boston – Peace Of Mind
Shinedown – Heroes
Jack Johnson – Crying Shame
Buffalo Springfield – Everybody's Wrong
Vangelis – Main Theme From "Missing"
Jimi Hendrix – Machine Gun (Live)
Kansas – Dust In The Wind
The Doors – The End
Creed – My Sacrifice
U2 – Pride (In The Name Of Love) - Live - Rattle & Hum Version
John Mellencamp – Our Country - Rock Version
White Zombie – Black Sunshine
Weezer – Say It Ain't So
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World - MTV Unplugged
Iron Maiden – The Evil That Men Do
U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
Enya – Fallen Embers
Hoobastank – Crawling In The Dark
Echo And The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
R.E.M. – It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (Edit)
Talking Heads – Psycho Killer - 2005 Remastered Album Version
Bad Company – Burning Sky
Yes – Starship Trooper
Queen – Another One Bites The Dust
The Smashing Pumpkins – Disarm
Robert Rodriguez's CHINGON – 1-800-HITMAN (Bonus Track)
Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas
10000 Maniacs – Love Among The Ruins
Elvis Costello – Less Than Zero
U2 – All Along The Watchtower - Live - Rattle & Hum Version
Blue Oyster Cult – Godzilla
John Lennon – Imagine
AC/DC – Highway to Hell
The Decemberists – This Is Why We Fight
The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky
Lenny Kravitz – Supersoulfighter
Metallica – For Whom The Bell Tolls
Warren Zevon – Lawyers, Guns And Money
John Fogerty – Gunslinger
Eric Clapton – Change The World
3 Doors Down – Citizen/Soldier
Bryan Adams – Can't Stop This Thing We Started
Talking Heads – Life During Wartime - Remastered LP Version
Dire Straits – Heavy Fuel
U2 – Peace On Earth
Warren Zevon – Frank And Jesse James
22-20s – Shoot Your Gun
Cracker – Don't Fuck Me Up (With Peace And Love)
New Politics – Dignity
New Politics – Nuclear War
22-20s – Shoot Your Gun

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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Top 10 Best Movies of All Time

Not too long ago we presented our list of the 10 Dumbest Movies of All time; today we're taking a 'glass half full' view of the world and focusing on the positive. Determining what movies qualify to be among the top 10 is no easy matter though.

Midnight Cowboy

There are quite a few truly great films out there to choose from - so we applied the following criteria to help make our picks:

1. Each film on this list had to be a classic film (which we've defined before). 
2. Each film had to be a profound story - something out of the ordinary that sticks with you and effects you at an emotional level.
3. Each film had to be cinematically innovative. This could take a variety of forms from introduction of special effects to the cinematography itself and of course the story-line.
4. Each film had to have more than one scene that is remembered as being historic (like the baseball scene from the Untouchables although that film didn't make this list because while a classic the story-line was a just to thin).
5. To be on our list usually also involved having a very good musical score as well.

What we didn't do was base our list of critics' determination of what ought to be considered 'the greatest of all time.'  This is why movies like Citizen Kane does not appear on our list.  

Orson Welles was always over-rated, especially by himself 

So here's our list of the Top 10 Best Movies of All Time:

# 1 Best Movie of All Time -  Schindler's List: Why did this film top the list? There were several reasons; first because this version of the Holocaust tale was different than those that had gone before it. Spielberg made it seem more real. Perhaps it was the use of Black and White or perhaps it was the fascinating character studies provided by Ben Kingsley, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes - and each of those actors turned in what was probably the performance of their careers. Second, this film was about both horror and hope and how the human spirit can overcome the lesser angels of our nature. Third, perhaps it was the timing of it - while this film debuted a new genocide was just beginning in Europe in Bosnia. NATO intervened to stop that war and the Genocide in 1995 - it seems to us that this film may have played a role in helping to remind the world about the human face of Genocide. It's a lesson that will likely need to be learned over and over again in the future - and now we have this film to help teach that lesson.

Schindler's List was Best Picture in 1993

# 2 Best Movie of All Time -  Dr. Strangelove: Some might find the selection of "Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" as an odd choice for the second best film of all time. We think the rank is well-deserved. First, this stands as the most profound and biting political satire on film - ever (second place is Chaplin's "The Great Dictator"). Second, this movie provided the most damning critique of the Arms Race ever produced. Third, Peter Sellers gave the performance/s of his career (playing at least 3 characters). We will never forget his insane parody of Henry Kissinger as Strangelove.

Peter Sellers as Strangleove

# 3 Best Movie of All Time -  The Godfather: What can we say - this movie had everything; a soundtrack that we can never forget; one hell of a story and some of the best acting ever. Al Pacino will probably always be remembered for his role as Michael Corleone - seeing him become the new Godfather at the end of the movie is one of those cinematic moments we'll never forget. In fact, the entire movie is chocked full of iconic scenes.

Michael becomes, the Godfather...

# 4 Best Movie of All Time -  Blade Runner:  We reviewed this film some time ago and we have to admit - we just keep liking it better and better as time goes by. Blade Runner brings together a fantastic Science Fiction story by Philip K Dick ( Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), unbelievable cinematic vision from Director Ridley Scott and some truly memorable performances by a huge and wildly talented ensemble cast. This film set its own standard in terms of creating a unique universe all its own - it's LA Noir with flying cars and genetically engineered super-humans. We're hoping the rumors of a sequel are true but it is unlikely that any follow-on movie will match this original. The soundtrack by Vangelis is perhaps the best movie score ever.

The FX from Blade Runner inspired a generation of Hollywood film-makers and animators

# 5 Best Movie of All Time -  The Matrix: This movie still retains the title of Coolest Movie of All Time. The Matrix combined a powerful critique of the human experience with state of the art visuals and special effects. The result is nothing short of breathtaking. Even though the follow-ons in the trilogy didn't live up to the original - the first Matrix still stands the test of time. We recommend that you take the red pill. 

# 6 Best Movie of All Time - Midnight Cowboy: Not a Western at all, with the absolute best theme song from any movie - ever. If this film doesn't tug at your heart - you're probably a Zombie. Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of Ratso Rizzo is one of the truly great performance s in cinema history.

# 7 Best Movie of All Time -  Dr. Zhivago: This movie still stands of the most beautiful pieces of cinema ever produced. It represents the best of the epic films from the 50's to 70's and tells the story of one man's struggle to survive amidst the chaos of the Russian Revolution. It also stands as one of the greatest love stories on film. Julie Christie gave the performance of her life in this movie as did Rod Steiger. Sir Alec Guinness, Geraldine Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin's daughter) and Omar Sharif rounded off the stellar cast. The Zhivago soundtrack is the second best in the history of cinema. There were some truly great lines in this film - like Zhivago's brother stating "I did admire him; but I didn't think he was a better man. Besides, I've executed better men than me with a small pistol."

# 8 Best Movie of All Time -  JFK: This movie is a bit controversial, just like it's topic - the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Director Oliver Stone assembled a huge cast of the best talent in Hollywood headed by Kevin Costner in what is probably the best performance of his career. This movie represents the ultimate courtroom drama in cinema history as Stone pieces together the real story while exposing the gaps in the Warren Commission's finding. The movie was so powerful that it led to the passage of President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. This means that many documents that haven't already been released will be in 2017. While still late, the truth may finally be known after all these years. It's a movie that literally made history.

JFK was awesome, we rest our case

# 9 Best Movie of All Time -  AI: Artificial Intelligence was Stanley Kubrick's last project. Before he died he handed it over to Stephen Spielberg to complete. The result was truly stunning. AI tells the story of a boy named David who isn't actually a boy - he's a Cyber Pinocchio. But David is more than that - he is the first artificial being who can dream and can love. This movie was meant to take HAL to the next step and fully humanize him. It succeeds with an entertaining story, stunning visual imagery and one of the best performances by a child actor - Haley Joel Osment - ever.

Welcome to Rouge City

# 10 Best Movie of All Time -  One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest: While this isn't a happy tale, it is inspirational. This movie marks the zenith of Jack Nicholson's career. It provides us some truly memorable characters who've all come together under less than ideal circumstances. Cuckoo's Nest follows in the same foot-steps as Midnight Cowboy in creating a story that is totally character-driven and painfully realistic.

Honorable Mentions:

• The Graduate - This movie helped to define a generation with a soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkle no less.

• 2001 Space Odyssey - We loved it, but the characters we're a little thin for this category.

• Apocalypse Now - A great movie, but a bit too uneven to make the top 10.  

• Scarface - "Say hello to my little friend." Al Pacino's over the top Cuban gangster became one of the all-time most memorable characters in cinema in this film (no chance of sequels either).

• The Shining - A masterpiece that came very close to getting on the list. Kubrick and Jack Nicholson together - wow.

• High Noon - One of our few older films in contention. This movie stood as the ultimate Western - at least until The Unforgiven came along.

• Gone with The Wind: This movie defined the Hollywood epic for the next 75 years. While the racial stereotypes depicted in the film are insensitive to say the least - they also stand as testimony to how far we've come in just a couple generations. What would Clark Gable thought of President Obama? 

• Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin was a genius, end of story. Cinema wouldn't be what it is today without him. He was also a brilliant social critic and one of the few people on earth in the 1930's to take on Hitler. The little tramp had some big cojones. 

Chaplin takes on the Industrial Revolution single-handedly

• Ben Hur - Star Wars episode 1 was largely a tribute to this movie - how cool is that?
• Lawrence of Arabia - David Lean took a very odd (yet true) story from history and turned it into a legend. Lean also directed Zhivago.

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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Should Zombies be Animated?

Perhaps this is a confusing question as we know that all Zombies are by nature already reanimated - what we're referring to in today's question is whether Zombies in film or Television ought to be analog or digital - human (sort of) or CG effect. Why are we asking this question? Well, there's lot's of reasons:

• We're bored
• We like Zombies
• We're concerned about the over-commercialization of Zombies (it's getting almost as bad as Christmas)
• We saw a trailer for the new Brad Pitt film World War Z. (Z for Zombie, get it).

Here's the preview:

These zombies look like bugs - what's up with that?

They don't provide us a lot of close ups on the Zombies themselves but we can tell from the clip that there's some serious CG going on with all those Zombies piling up more or less like ants. This does not mean we won't go see the movie - there is no doubt that we will. However, we do have concerns. Do any of you recall Will Smith's I am Legend from a few years back? We were pretty excited about that movie until we got in there and started watching the 100% CG Zombie things doing just a lot of ridiculous crap. Those special effects ruined what might have otherwise been a decent movie (not great one, but a least decent one).

There's nothing like the real thang, baby...

Now it just may be that in a couple of years computer animation software may become sophisticated enough to fully mimic the look and feel of real-life human extras made up to be undead Zombies.  The question is - what do we lose when this happens? Can we have truly great Zombie flicks without that personal touch we've all come to know and love? We don't want to sound like Luddites here - but we're not buying it. We'd like to start the keep Zombies human movement and we'll kick off our crusade with our ten reasons why Zombies should not be computer animated.

Please take an animated breath-mint

10 Reasons to keep Zombies Human

1. Unemployment is bad enough, we don't want to put all of those extras out of work - think of their families and the little Zombies at home!
2. Zombie makeovers could become a lost art or at least might become prohibitively expensive.
3. Zombies should not be behaving like werewolves, sparkly vampires or other video-game like creatures that can crawl up walls and do backflips and other such nonsense. These guys are dead - they can't be in better shape after they croak, right?
4. We need Human Zombies so we can train new generations of haunted house temps.
5. An animated Zombie will never have the same pathos and motivation as a human zombie - longing for brains and flesh as well as their past lives.
6. We should always be able to outrun the average Zombie - this is a long-standing rule broken by films like I am Legend and 28 Days Later. Fast Zombies are a bit like Lance Armstrong taking drugs and transfusing blood during a race - no fair - time out!
7. Zombie extras (and all their friends and family) buy tickets to see themselves in the show (or tune in to TV and boost ratings) - the loss of this Zombie viewership would be devastating to Hollywood. 
8. Playing a Zombie is an inalienable American right - we read that somewhere - perhaps in the West Virginia state constitution. Doesn't matter where we saw it - and we will fight for that right. 
9. Because Zombie acting proves that there's life after death - well, sort of (maybe it's life after your career dies, we're not sure).
10. And finally because Zombie(ness) is the final stage in human evolution and we shall not be denied (a preview of) our destiny. 

We've hoped that we've convinced you of the righteousness of our cause... We are a nation of the Zombies, For the Zombies and By the Zombies - etc. etc. 

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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A Delicious Harmony - Raving Playlist

If there's one thing we love almost as much as music - it's eating a lot. So we decided to put together a playlist to celebrate all those things that taste really good and make a tribute to food-related harmonies. Our high-carb, high-fat tastes will no likely do us in eventually but not before we have lot's more fun listening to our favorite tunes. As usual this list is available on Spotify as well.

It's U2 again - Album Art (Wild Honey)

A Delicious Harmony

U2 – Wild Honey
Jack Johnson – Cookie Jar
Neil Young – Cinnamon Girl
Lenny Kravitz – You're My Flavor
The Four Tops – I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
The Guess Who – No Sugar Tonight
Stone Temple Pilots – Sex Type Thing
Jack Johnson – Banana Pancakes
Suzanne Vega – Tom's Diner
Steve Miller Band – Jungle Love
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Stir It Up - Original Album Version
John Mellencamp – Cherry Bomb
Nirvana – Big Cheese
Don Henley – Sunset Grill
Supertramp – Breakfast In America - Remastered Version/2010
UB40 – Red Red Wine - Edit
Gorillaz – Bañana Baby
Pink Martini – Hang on Little Tomato
Billy Joel – Scenes From An Italian Restaurant - Live At Shea, 2008
Deep Blue Something – Breakfast At Tiffany's
Cream – Strange Brew
Steve Miller Band – Wild Mountain Honey
Sean Kingston – Ice Cream Girl - (featuring Wyclef Jean) Album Version
Van Halen – Ice Cream Man
Destiny's Child – Apple Pie À La Mode
Creedence Clearwater Revival – I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Single Version
White Rabbits – Dinner Party
Mötley Crüe – Slice Of Your Pie
The Runaways – Cherry Bomb
Marcy Playground – Sex And Candy
Nina Simone – Forbidden Fruit
Black Lips – Raw Meat
Jimmy Buffett – Last Mango In Paris - Live 1990 Version
Tenacious D – Low Hangin' Fruit - Explicit Version
The Beach Boys – Vegetables - 2001 - Remaster
Tom Waits – Ice Cream Man
R.E.M. – Orange Crush
U2 – Lemon
Radiohead – Banana Co
Jack Johnson – Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology
Jimmy Buffett – Margaritaville
The Cars – Candy-O
Dave Matthews Band – Recently / Water Into Wine - 06/07/08 Busch Stadium St. Louis
Eagles Of Death Metal – Cherry Cola
Nelo – Jumping Bean
UB40 – Rat In Mi Kitchen
The Magnetic Fields – A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off
Third Eye Blind – God Of Wine - 2006 Remastered LP Version
The Rolling Stones – Pass The Wine (Sophia Loren)
Nancy Sinatra – Summer Wine
Coldplay – Strawberry Swing
Harry McClintock – Big Rock Candy Mountain
Stone Temple Pilots – Cinnamon
Kings Of Leon – Milk
Prince & The Revolution – Raspberry Beret
Peter, Paul and Mary – Lemon Tree - Remastered LP Version
Don McLean – American Pie
Jeff Beck – Rice Pudding
Eric Clapton – Malted Milk
Bow Wow Wow – I Want Candy
Kiss – Lick It Up
Parliament – Chocolate City
Italian Restaurant Music of Italy – Italian Dinner Party
Sarah McLachlan – Ice Cream
Blind Melon – Mouthful Of Cavities
Tonic – Lemon Parade
Prince & The New Power Generation – Cream
The Ultimate Beatles Cover Band – Strawberry Fields Forever - Originally Performed By the Beatles
Snow Patrol – Chocolate
Bob Dylan – Country Pie
"Weird Al" Yankovic – Eat It
Neil Diamond – Cherry Cherry - 2011 Remastered Mono
Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble – Mary Had A Little Lamb
Dave Matthews Band – Alligator Pie
Ray Charles – Sweet Potato Pie
The Mamas & The Papas – No Dough
Primus – Pudding Time
Amy Winehouse – Cherry
The Smiths – Meat Is Murder - 2011 Remastered Version
The Archies – Sugar Sugar
Oasis – Digsy's Dinner
French Dinner Music Collective – Je t'aime - French Dinner Music
Fountains Of Wayne – Mexican Wine
Against Me! – Rice and Bread
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – You Say Tomato, I say Tomato
Carolina Chocolate Drops – Cornbread And Butterbeans
The Wonder Years – Melrose Diner
Train – Breakfast In Bed
Insane Clown Posse – Chicken Huntin' - Slaughter House Mix
Cracker – Sweet Potato
ZZ Top – Salt Lick
Count Basie – Orange Sherbert
Conor Oberst – Milk Thistle
Psychostick – Prozac Milkshake
Bruce Springsteen – Candy's Room - 2010 Remastered Version
Man Man – Steak Knives
Everclear – Strawberry
Steely Dan – FM
Chuck Ragan – California Burritos
Jimmy Buffett – Cheeseburger In Paradise
Miles Davis Sextet – Tasty Pudding
Winger – Feeding Frenzy
Spoon – Me And The Bean
Barenaked Ladies – Alcohol
Paul & Storm – Pillsbury Cookie Dough
Dave Matthews Band – Big Eyed Fish
Guided By Voices – Chocolate Boy
Wham! – Last Christmas - Pudding Mix
"Weird Al" Yankovic – Taco Grande
Screeching Weasel – Fortune Cookie
Dirty Honkers – Ginger Bread Man
The Long Winters – Cinnamon
Green Day – Brain Stew
Luce – Western Spaghetti
Pickin' On Jimmy Buffet – Boat Drinks
We Have Band – Buffet
Speedy West – Cracker Jack
Emery – Daddy's Little Peach
The Raveonettes – You Want The Candy

That's Raveonettes, not Raisinets

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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Pilot Interruptus - Battlestar Galactica Blood & Chrome

So who was the fraking genius who came up with the idea of separating the Battlestar Galactica Blood & Chrome pilot into 10-12 minutes segments? Must have been some type of artificial intelligence - anyway - the verdict is in. The show seems like its coming together well but it's driving us crazy only being able to see 10 minutes at time. It turns just about every potential scene transition or ad slot into a fraking cliff hanger. Our nerves may not be able to take much more of this. Here's a fracking suggestion - try doing 30 minute segments so we can actually have some sort of fulfilling viewing experience why don't you? You can stream 30 minute segments right?

They've got way more ships on Blood & Chrome which means more ships to blow up - yippee!

So here's the fraking promo trailer and we apologize for using the word frak or trying to say other bad words (starting with S or B) under our breath so we won't get censored.

Since we can't watch the whole show yet, here's a music video / song that expresses our sentiments about having to watch Blood & Chrome 10 minutes at a time...

Me and my Cylon...

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The Untouchables - A Raving Classic

We told you several weeks ago that a classic movie is one that you can watch again and again without ever getting bored or having to look at your watch (something that we ended up doing several times during the premier of Skyfall this week - what a shame). Today we're going to review a Raving Classic that never gets old - The Untouchables. This movie had a lot going for it and still does including:

• Kevin Costner before he got soggy from Waterworld
• One of Robert De Niro's best performances ever
• One of Sean Connery's best performances ever (we were wishing they'd bring him back to the Bond franchise as well - perhaps as Q?)
• One of the best musical scores in a film ever from Ennio Morricone (we've included clips) - and yes, this was the same guy who did the theme for the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• A very realistic look ad feel that takes us back to prohibition times in ole Chi-town
• A ton of vintage cars - we liked that - we were wondering if that many vintage cars from the Depression era even exist anymore - although we're sure some FX wizard could render them now if needbe.

Welcome to the War on Booze !

The 1987 film starts strong with an awesome combo of credits and score that are absolutely timeless. This film perhaps even more than Field of Dreams is what made Costner the superstar he was - he was then able to go on and make Robin Hood, Dances with Wolves and JFK in rapid succession. It's cool to watch him in these early films before he went the through trauma of films like the Postman and all of the money that lost for him. The entire cast does a great job as well, with Andy Garcia making his blockbuster debut as the young Italian cop who wants to shed the gangster image and goes toe to toe with Connery's wise old beat cop persona, Jimmy Malone.

The story of the Untouchables was perhaps more familiar in 1987 to America than it is now given that the Untouchables was also a TV series in the late 1950's starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness. And before that of course, keep in mind that this was based on a true story - this is more or less how the Feds actually caught Al Capone. Al was without a doubt, the biggest, most infamous mobster in US history. Capone was the archetype for the drug-lords of today and he ruled what would now be a multi-billion dollar crime syndicate that more or less ran Chicago for a number of years.  We may never know how many men he had killed during his reign but it is likely that he was responsible for the grisly Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929. Robert De Niro's portrayal of Capone is simply a joy to watch and will stand as one of the great movie villain roles of all time.

The real Al Capone, before he got caught - he died in prison

There are at least two of Cinema's all time best scenes ever in The Untouchables. Can you guess what they are? Here's a hint, one has to do with Baseball and the other involves a train station:

1. De Niro's speech to his capos (lieutenants) about his hobbies - or "enthusiams" focuses on how baseball is a team sport. There is something about how the good-natured sports speech turning brutal that chills you to the bone. We hope we never have a coach like Al.
2. The train-station shoot-out. This was a very ambitious scene and explores every angle of a crazy situation in painstaking detail as we move with the action in slow motion. It doesn't seem as though something like this would work - but it does. The clip below is a parody of that scene from the "Naked Gun" series.

A masterful parody and a glimpse of OJ before he became a real-life Bad guy

The Untouchables is an often corny, sometimes quite violent, usually suspenseful and overall pretty darn fun movie to watch. Don't expect a deep, realistic character study of Eliot Ness and Capone - this is a morality play, an old-time Western that just happens to be located in Chicago. The moral of this story? Crime doesn't pay even when it may not really be a crime (e.g. Prohibition). Ness and Capone both realize that its not the liquor that's the issue - it's the criminal atmosphere that is created in response to the demand for that prohibited product that creates both the opportunity and the problem. If Ness (who said he'd get a drink after hearing Prohibition was ended) was around nowadays would he care to smoke a joint in the states that just legalized pot? Interesting question.

 Our next Raving Classic - 1986's Predator

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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Life of Illusion - A Raving Playlist

Been feeling like you're having a existential crisis lately? Think you might have one soon? Well, we've got you covered with our Life of Illusion playlist. For those who still remember the 1970's (and early 1980's) you'll note that the list is named after legendary Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh's single from 1981. Sometimes we don't credit rock stars or singers with having much philosophical acumen but every once in a while, they'll create songs that are a lot deeper than they sound - kind of like Dust in the Wind. So, we put together a playlist of profound songs, songs that make us think or otherwise place us in a self-reflective mood as we ponder our place in the universe. As usual, you can find this list on Spotify as well.

Album art - Joe Walsh's "There goes the neighborhood" with single "Life of Illusion"

 

 BTW - here's the lyrics if you're interested... enjoy your existential crisis

"A Life Of Illusion" Lyrics
Sometimes I can't help the feeling that I'm
Living a life of illusion
And oh, why can't we let it be
And see through the hole in this wall of confusion
I just can't help the feeling I'm
Living a life of illusion

Pow! Right between the eyes
Oh, how nature loves her little surprises
Wow! It all seems so logical now
It's just one of her better disguises
And it comes with no warning
Nature loves her little surprises
Continual crisis

Hey, don't you know it's a waste of your day
Caught up in endless solutions
That have no meaning, just another hunch
Based upon jumping conclusions
Caught up in endless solutions
Backed up against a wall of confusion
Living a life of illusion


Life of Illusion, the Playlist
Mason Williams – Classical Gas
Dave Matthews Band – Steady As We Go
Love And Rockets – So Alive
Joe Walsh – A Life Of Illusion
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Runnin' Down A Dream
U2 – Where The Streets Have No Name
Alice In Chains – Nutshell
Sheryl Crow – Everyday Is A Winding Road
U2 – One
Tom Petty – Saving Grace
Alice In Chains – Heaven Beside You
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Free Fallin'
The Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock
Spandau Ballet – Chant No 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)
U2 – Red Hill Mining Town
Stone Temple Pilots – Interstate Love Song
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Pump It Up
Journey – Wheel In The Sky
Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb
Alice In Chains – Brother
New Politics – Yeah Yeah Yeah
The Killers – All These Things That I've Done
INXS – Pretty Vegas
Sting – Fields Of Gold
Beck – Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - Exclusive Recording
Dave Matthews Band – Ants Marching
Alice In Chains – Man In The Box
U2 – So Cruel
Vitamin String Quartet – Ohio
The Police – Tea In The Sahara
Joe Walsh – Turn To Stone
Metric – Help I'm Alive
Coldplay – Fix You
Joe Walsh – The Confessor
Miami Vice – Crockett's Theme (Miami Vice)
Lenny Kravitz – American Woman
Randy Newman – Dayton, Ohio - 1903
Shinedown – Second Chance
Third Eye Blind – Jumper
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Yer So Bad
U2 – City Of Blinding Lights
David Bowie – The Jean Genie - 1999 Digital Remaster
Don Henley – The Heart Of The Matter
The Wallflowers – One Headlight
U2 – Vertigo
Alice In Chains – No Excuses
Jesus Jones – Right Here Right Now
Vangelis – One More Kiss, Dear
Stone Temple Pilots – Plush - Acoustic
Lenny Kravitz – You're My Flavor
David West – Ohio
ZZ Top – My Head's In Mississippi - Remastered LP Version
Sun Kil Moon – Carry Me Ohio
Sheryl Crow – If It Makes You Happy
U2 – Instant Karma
Golden Earring – Twilight Zone
The Jayhawks – Somewhere In Ohio
Ohio Players – O-H-I-O
The Wallflowers – Lawyers, Guns And Money
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Otherside
Electric Six – Escape From Ohio
Coldplay – Don't Panic
Counting Crows – Mr. Jones
Dave Matthews Band – Dive In
Vitamin String Quartet – Snow (Hey Oh) - Tribute to Red Hot Chili Peppers
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
The Doors – Break On Through
Incubus – Drive
Collective Soul – Gel
Nickelback – If Today Was Your Last Day
Blondie – Heart Of Glass
Vitamin String Quartet – Ohio
Beck – Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime - Exclusive Recording
David Bowie – Ashes To Ashes - Single Version;2002 - Remaster
Gloria Estefan – Mi Tierra
Gem – Call Me Down To Ohio
Credence Clearwater Revival – Lookin´Out My Back Door
Alice In Chains – Nutshell
Barenaked Ladies – If I Had $1,000,000
Guns N' Roses – Street Of Dreams
Nirvana – On A Plain
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication
Jack Johnson – Upside Down
George Michael – Faith
Better Than Ezra – Misunderstood
Enya – China Roses
Toad The Wet Sprocket – All I Want
The Police – Message In A Bottle
Journey – Wheel In The Sky
Alanis Morissette – Ironic
Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
Dave Matthews Band – Sleep To Dream Her
The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence
Alanis Morissette – Ironic
Death Cab for Cutie – Soul Meets Body
The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
Everclear – I Will Buy You A New Life - 2004 Digital Remaster
U2 – Even Better Than The Real Thing

U2

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