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...

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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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

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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10 Reasons Why Sherlock Should be the Next Bond

After having watched Skyfall last night and being duly disappointed, we've begun to think that perhaps it's time for a transition to a new James Bond (e.g. a new actor to play James Bond). James Bond is much like Dr. Who in that no one seems to mind when he switches bodies, so why not take advantage of that? Daniel Craig was great in Casino Royale, Ok in Quantum of Solace and sucked royale in Skyfall. Part of this performance decline seems to stem from dissatisfaction he may have playing the role as evidenced by this quote from a recent interview in Rolling Stone magazine:

I’ve been trying to get out of this from the very moment I got into it. But they won’t let me go, and I’ve agreed to do a couple more, but let’s see how this one does, because business is business and if the **** goes down, I’ve got a contract that somebody will happily wipe their a** with. Daniel Craig, unhappy Bond

Sherlock and The Hobbit in London

We think finding a new Bond would do wonders for the franchise and we believe we've found the perfect candidate, Benedict Cumberbatch, A.K.A. Sherlock. We've been highly impressed with Sherlock as a series (which we will review soon as part of our tribute to the BBC) and even more impressed with its three main leads, Cumberbatch as Sherlock, Martin Freeman (The Hobbit) as Watson and Andrew Scott as Moriarty. We also think very highly of the series creator and writer (a Doctor Who Alumni) Stephen Moffat.

The name is Homes, Sherlock Holmes

So, here's our ten reasons why Sherlock ought to become the next James Bond:

1. Because Benedict Cumberbatch can really act.
2. Because Mr. Cumberbatch seems genuinely invested in his roles and willing to put forth an effort to make them memorable.
3. Because perhaps we could borrow Moriarty to be a Bond villain. Andrew Scott played one of the best screen villains we've seen in years on the BBC's Sherlock and we really need to put Javier Bardem's goofball performance out of our minds.
4. Because Cumberbatch is younger than Craig and looks the part a bit better.
5. Because Sherlock's sidekick Watson is now the Hobbit and may be unavailable for further work with Sherlock, leaving Sherlock's schedule open.
6. Because maybe we could bring some of the writers from the Sherlock series along with Sherlock to the next Bond film so it might make sense.
7. Because Sherlock's brother Mycroft already works for MI6 and should be able to pull some strings to get him hired.
8. Because we need a little less shooting and brute force in future Bond films and a little more of that ole Bond sophistication
9. Because Sherlock already lives in London and its convenient. 
10. Because Daniel Craig looks like he really needs vacation and a job where he doesn't have to work out so much.

This guy is a villain's villain and would lend serious cred to the Bond franchise

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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Artificial Intelligence - A Raving Playlist

Well, after writing our review for 2001, A Space Odyssey we asked ourselves the question, what type of music does HAL listen too. Sure we know he like to sign "Daisy" but that was when he a just a kid in the lab. Then we got to thinking, what about Watson, Skynet, Data, The Matrix Architect and even David from the movie AI - what music would they like? After doing an obsessive amount of research we came to the conclusion that most artificial intelligences would enjoy the songs in the playlist presented below and we have to say that we're quite surprised at what good taste they have in music. Perhaps it won't be as bad when they take over the planet as we thought it might be.

As usual the list is also available on Spotify...

What form sentient intelligence wouldn't like Depeche Mode?

Artificial Intelligence


The Smiths – How Soon Is Now?
Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence - Remastered Version Original
U2 – Electrical Storm - William Orbit Mix
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge
Genesis – Abacab - 2007 Remastered LP Version
Vangelis – Blade Runner (End Titles)
The Police – Spirits In The Material World - 2003 Stereo Remastered Version
Dido – Here With Me
Journey – Wheel In The Sky
White Zombie – More Human Than Human
A Flock Of Seagulls – Space Age Love Song
Depeche Mode – Policy Of Truth - 2006 Digital Remaster
The Alan Parsons Project – I Robot
Beck – Gamma Ray
Vangelis – Rachel's Song
The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky
The Police – Synchronicity I - 2003 Stereo Remastered Version
Lenny Kravitz – Black Velveteen
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust - 2002 Digital Remaster
The Police – Synchronicity II - 2003 Stereo Remastered Version
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Parallel Universe
Vangelis – Memories Of Green
Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) - Original 7" Mix
The B-52's – Cosmic Thing
The Killers – When You Were Young
Steely Dan – Time Out Of Mind
The Alan Parsons Project – I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You
Vangelis – La Petite Fille De La Mer
Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill
Maroon 5 – Makes Me Wonder
The Alan Parsons Project – Time
The Fixx – Saved By Zero
Beck – E-Pro
A Flock Of Seagulls – I Ran (So Far Away)
Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science
Tom Petty – Saving Grace
Tears For Fears – Head Over Heels
Flight Of The Conchords – Robots
Radiohead – Paranoid Android
Vangelis – Blade Runner Blues
The Police – Walking On The Moon - 2003 Stereo Remastered Version
The Alan Parsons Project – Sirius
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – If You Leave
Vangelis – One Alone
10,000 Maniacs – Because The Night  [MTV Unplugged Version]
The Smithereens – Only A Memory
Cracker – Low
Alice In Chains – Man In The Box
Eric Clapton – Forever Man
Depeche Mode – Strangelove
Steve Winwood – Higher Love - Full Album Version
U2 – When Love Comes To Town
Walk the Moon – Anna Sun
Vangelis – Main Titles (From Blade Runner)
U2 – One
John Mellencamp – Your Life Is Now
Chevelle – I Get It
The Police – Don't Stand So Close To Me
Counting Crows – Mr. Jones
The Alan Parsons Project – Games People Play
David Bowie – Space Oddity - 2009 Digital Remaster
Enya – Shepherd Moons
Vangelis – One More Kiss, Dear
Blur – Parklife
Alan Parsons – Return to Tunguska
Blondie – Atomic
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World
Vangelis – Love Theme From Bladerunner
Elvis Costello – Less Than Zero
Barenaked Ladies – Big Bang Theory Theme
Talking Heads – And She Was
The Human League – Fascination (Extended Remix)
Bush – Machinehead
Blur – Song 2
A Flock Of Seagulls – Telecommunication
Steve Miller Band – The Joker
The Fifth Dimension – Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In - Digitally Remastered 1997
Linkin Park – In The End
The Cars – Moving In Stereo
Chris Cornell – Ground Zero
The Rolling Stones – Can't You Hear Me Knocking - 2009 Re-Mastered Digital Version
Steely Dan – Reelin' In The Years
Lou Reed – Satellite Of Love
Maná – Vivir sin aire
The Dandy Warhols – Bohemian Like You
Sheryl Crow – All I Wanna Do
David Bowie – Life On Mars? - 1999 Digital Remaster
Counting Crows – Einstein On The Beach (For An Eggman)
Jimmy Eat World – My Best Theory
U2 – Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
The Black Crowes – Non-Fiction

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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10 Reasons Man Should Never Fly - Raving Time Capsule

Dayton, Ohio is the birthplace of aviation. Over the past few years though Dayton was especially hard hit by the Great Recession and thousands of homes were foreclosed on and demolished. Many of the homes being torn down were historic and some were even located not too far from where the Wright Brothers lived and worked in West Dayton. We came across a time capsule in the ruins of one of those homes and discovered some very interesting things - among them were several top ten lists. Keep in mind that the folks who wrote the lists seemed to have been somewhat disgruntled former neighbors of the Wright's Bicycle Shop who simply didn't understand what the Wright Brothers were up to.

This is where the airplane was invented

Why Mankind Should Never Fly:

Reason # 1 - There are too many birds and they will likely fly into you or want to mate with you.

Does this mean that everyone working for this airline is a Virgin?

Reason # 2 - It will anger the angels, who more or less have a monopoly on flying.

This is a rare photo of Lance Armstrong's great-grandfather - who pioneered bike race cheating

Reason # 3 - Once lifting off of the earth what's to stop you from floating to the moon?

This is Lance Armstrong's grandfather following in the family tradition

Reason # 4 - Because feathers are really itchy and probably none too sanitary.

Don't touch that, it might have diseases !

Reason # 5 - Because we'd look too much like vampires and no one will ever think they're cool or sexy.

Dracula was an avid hang-glider hobbyist

Reason # 6 - Because steam engines are just too damn heavy and would make too many clouds.


Reason # 7 - Look what happened to Icarus, duh...

 Proof that men (and women too of course) weren't meant to fly

 

Reason # 8 - Because someday people will invent the TSA and they will want to touch your junk and look at you naked with their x-ray machines.

Reason # 9 - Because the occupation of Stewardess may set back women's rights for decades as airlines might force them to where sexy uniforms and bend over a lot.

Come fly with us as we wear these silly outfits

Reason #10 - Because someone might make a movie called Flight with Denzel Washington as a stoned, drunken airline pilot who flips his plane and drinks Bud while driving.



It's amazing how insightful these folks were back in 1902...

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Skyfell

While Skyfall won't be the worst film of the year, (The Campaign and Flight are vying for that title), it is certainly this year's biggest disappointment.  We're not sure what happened with this movie; perhaps it was MGM going in and out of bankruptcy or maybe they just really weren't sure what they wanted to do with the movie since it took them so long to work the script. In any case, the end result isn't all that fun to watch. Please keep in mind that we are big James Bond fans so having to say that this film stunk is a bit painful for us - sort of like getting shot off of a moving train by Moneypenney and falling 200 feet into ravine.

Worst Bond beard ever, or is it the first and only Bond beard? Here we see James leaving rehab

  We have paid tribute to Bond in anticipation of this movie for several years, here's the proof:

• The Hunt for Rogue October - 2010
• Possible Bond Movie Titles - 2009

So what do we have against the Bond 23 turned Skyfall movie; here's our list:

• Worst Bond villain since Christopher Walken in "View to a Kill." Javier Bardem, one of the world's greatest actors, is reduced to an effeminate goofball with a mommy complex. Whatever happened to that guy from No Country for Old Men?

Javier just looks and acts silly, not too scary though despite the later FX

• A complete lack of plot. The storyline makes little sense and just gets worse as it goes.

• Gratuitous introduction of new characters for future episodes. At times the entire movie just seemed like a job interview for the new Q & M as well as Moneypenney - 2 of the 3 shouldn't have been hired.

Let's shoot your girlfriends  for target practice, Mr. Bond

• Kudos to the new Q for inventing a miniature radio / homing device that looks like a 1960's transistor radio and is 1000x bigger than it should be this day in age. Oh, and plugging the infected computer from the master hacker into the network was pure genius.

• Daniel Craig gave what has to be the most apathetic Bond performance ever - it was kind of like Obama in the first debate. You could see him thinking "I really don't want to be here and I'm sick of this job."

• Bond seems to let everyone get killed in this movie - good guys, bad guys it makes little difference and his attitude towards his chicks is getting worse. At least before when they got killed for sleeping with him he seemed to give a crap - not anymore.

• The pacing of the film was very uneven - after a promising chase scene to begin with we're dropped into a lot of slow moving and somewhat dull side-plots until the end which just turns out to be an excuse to do a makeover on James Bond family estate in Scotland. 

• The Komodo Dragons can't compare with sharks or piranhas. 

• With the exception of the opening sequence, the special effects were not up to par. And speaking of that opening sequence we still think Adele's tune is way too depressing to start a movie - it would have been appropriate for the ending though.

• There wasn't one decent one liner in the whole movie and even if there was the way Daniel Craig was delivering them you might not have heard it anyway - he was kind of mumbling through parts of the film. 

• Most awkward moment - the super-creepy Bardem begins feeling up James Bond and James implies he's already gay. We really didn't need to know that although it might explain his loss of interest in what happens to his girlfriends.

• Most Bizarre Moment - James drinking Tequila with a scorpion on his hand. 

We certainly hope that Skyfall doesn't kill the Bond franchise, it's survived some pretty serious stinkers before and now even the bankruptcy of the studio that owns the rights. There is still hope for future Bond adventures - although there may need to be more casting changes and the creative team responsible for this movie ought to be entirely replaced. It must be noted that Judi Dench, who at age 77, should have retired as M a while ago, put in the by far best performance of the movie. We'll miss you, M.

 Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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An Homage to the Brady Bunch - Raving Retro

While the rest of the country was protesting the Vietnam war or watching the Watergate hearings there were many of us who viewed the world through the windows of our suburban tri-level homes and watched the Brady Bunch every weekend afternoon - there at least all was right with the world. The Bradys had the perfect family, they were happy, well-adjusted and seemed to have a lot of fun hanging out with each other (perhaps more fun than we realized based upon stories of Brady scandals that began emerging during the 1980's).

For the cast of the Brady Bunch, it was all downhill after the show was cancelled.

During the 1970's though, the Bradys seemed normal. While the Bradys' had their issues, those problems were always resolved by the end of each episode. The Bradys presented a somewhat narrow view of the world though, for example:

• There were no major characters from any minority, in fact you'd think minorities didn't exist if you watched it.
• Mrs. Brady was a stay at home mom who never once thought of having a career.
• The excuse for the family merger is murky, although Mr. Brady is a widower, no mention is made of Mrs. Brady's mysterious divorce. It's assumed she got all the kids in the settlement but apparently she doesn't get alimony.
• Nobody drinks on the Brady Bunch, despite their last name being Brady - except for Sam, the sometimes boy-toy for Alice the housekeeper.
• The Bradys' never faced any real trauma or setbacks, besides their vacations anyway.
• The Bradys' didn't seem to have any opinions about anything outside their own personal lives. 

Many people think that Seinfeld invented the comedy about nothing, but the reality is that the Bradys beat them to it - it is a show that said absolutely nothing on any subject for 6 seasons. Yet, the show had an appeal which was hard to ignore. We've assembled several top ten lists as an homage to the time wasted during our childhood watching these folks and thinking they had it better than us...

Top 10 Episode Titles:

• Marcia Gets Creamed - We didn't make these up
• The Great Earring Caper - Kleptos on the cast? We'll have to refer to Marcia's or Jan's books
• Getting Davy Jones - Odds are Marcia really got him, but we haven't read the tell-all book yet.
• Coming Out Party - way before it became popular...
• The Babysitters - Did this inspire the John Leguizamo film?
• The Big Sprain - Before Sports medicine was cool...
• Every Boy Does It Once - We don't want to know
• The Teeter Totter Caper - we forgot about this one
• Katchoo - One of several episodes dedicated to healthcare issues
• Eenie, Meenie, Mommy, Daddy - A show, about nothing

Top (real-life) Brady Scandals:

• Mike Brady is gay (dies of AIDS)
• Mrs. Brady hooks up with Greg
• Greg hooks up with Marcia
• Marcia apparently hooks up with everyone, including Michael Jackson and Steve Martin.
• Jan and Marsha hook up (maybe)
• Greg and Jan hook up
• Peter is gay (maybe)
• Multiple substance abuse issues
• Several failed spin offs 
• Mrs. Brady has an affair with the Mayor of New York

Top 10 Brady Quotes:

• Greg: Remember Dad, we're talking man-to-man, not kid-to-man man-to-man, but man-to-man, man-to-man.
• Jan: Well, all I hear all day long at school is how great Marcia is at this how wonderful Marcia did that. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!
• Carol: [to Cindy] You shouldn't put down a loser, Cindy, because you might be one yourself someday. Just remember that.
• Greg: It's sure great how some people can sing while other people are dying!
• Alice: [to the deliveryman] You keep calling me sweetie, gorgeous & beautiful, and I'll follow you anywhere!
• Greg: [Greg then sits at his desk imitating Marcia writing in her diary] "Dear diary, at last I met him, my dream man. It was at the delicatessen and our fingers tingled as we reached for the same potato salad."
• Cindy: A star can't go on television, all fat and broken out.
• Marcia: Something suddenly came up.
• Carol: Cindy thought there are real butterflies in my stomach. What an idiot!

Top 3 Brady Hits:
Of course, someone had the bright idea to try to have the Bradys compete with the Partridge family. The following Brady hits were the fascinating result:

• Sunshine Day - no comment

• Keep on Moving - no comment

• Brady Bunch Variety Hour: Disco Medley  - to be honest we never even knew that the Bradys' had their own variety hour. That's probably a good thing...
  

Disco and the Bradys - the perfect match

There is one thing we're certain of, there will never be another show quite like the Brady Bunch - movie remakes not withstanding (satire doesn't count).

 Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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