NEW MUSIC FOR NOW PEOPLE

THE RACONTEURS
Okay, okay, I know it's been awhile since I've added anything new to the blog...monkey's lead busy lives you know...so I thought I'd list a few new CDs I've been listening to recently.
First off, The Raconteurs' with "Broken Boy Soldiers". This is somewhat of a supergroup side-project for Jack White of the White Stripes and solo artist, Brendan Benson, plus a couple other guys I've never heard of. Great Power-Pop album with a hint of 60s psychedelic rock. I really like the Brendan Benson stuff and it's nice to hear Jack White doing songs that aren't as Blues based as his White Stripes output. A very short album though, (30 minutes) but still packs in a lot for that short amount of time.


GNARLS BARKLEY
A really over-hyped album, on the internet at least--by Danger Mouse (Gorillaz) and Cee-Lo Green (Goodie Mob) but still worth it for a few songs. "Crazy" is one of the best singles I've heard in a long time and "Smiley Faces" sounds like 60s soul music. I can live without the Violent Femmes cover of "Gone Daddy Gone", really doesn't add anything to the original and just sounds goofy.


MUSE
This band has been around for awhile and most reviews seem to compare them to early Radiohead before that band went all experimental. Now that's not a bad thing--I love the first 3 Radiohead albums, when they rocked more then they do now. And I do hear a similarity in Lead Singer Matthew Bellamy's voice to Thom Yorke's. Muse's rock stuff does sound like early Radiohead, but it's weird because I also hear shades of Queen, Pink Floyd and even Prince!?


NINE BLACK ALPS
This album rocks out the most out of all the other albums I've reveiwed thus far. This is the Manchester bands first album preceded by a couple of EPs. More in the vein of fellow Manchester bands Oasis, Stone Roses, Doves, but not the gloomier ones, such as The Smiths, Joy Division. Good first album--hopefully they'll keep it up.

TEN UNDERRATED BANDS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW(Or Rediscover)

1. TEENAGE FANCLUB
They've been around since the early 90s but have never really equalled the success of their most popular album, Bandwagonesque. An album that is equal parts Big Star, Grunge, Punk and Power Pop. Their music has definitely changed since Bandwagonesque, now going for a more acoustic sound, but still grounded in their Big Star infatuation. Always the critics darlings. Check out " Four thousand seven hundred and sixty-seconds", a compilation with a bunch of their shoulda-been hits.

2. HUSKER DU
The great, lost, American Hardcore Punk band. A band that had not one, but two great songwriters in it. Bob Mould and Grant Hart. Mould writing the more angry punk stuff with Hart writing the more punk-pop stuff. The production on their early albums leaves a lot to be desired, and their first 2 albums should be avoided, but by the time of "New Day Rising", they had hit their stride. An album that hits you over the head with their power. They even did 2 double albums in their time, one being a concept album!!! How many other Punk bands did that?

3. DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
Okay, okay...you can all stop laughing at me now. I know most people know them because of "Come on Eileen", their only hit, but Kevin Rowland's earlier version of this band was great. On "Searching for the young soul rebels" their sound was based more in Soul and R n' B, with a horn section and Kevin Rowland's strange but soulful vocals. They actually had an earlier hit in England called "Geno", a song about Northern Soul and Mod favorite, Geno Washington. Their name is a nod to The Mods drug of choice, dexedrine, a form of legal speed. "Too-rye-ay" is a GOOD album, getting rid of the horn section entirely and going for a more Celtic-Soul sound, but if you can find "Searching...", BUY IT!

4. CHEAP TRICK
Okay, okay...you can stop laughing at me again...I really didn't base my opinion of them on their later stuff. Like "The Flame" (wretch!), which they didn't even write! I'm basing this on their first 5 albums, "Cheap Trick" through "Dream Police". All those albums are a perfect blend of Hard Rock and Power Pop. Their first album is incredible--"Elo Kiddies", "Oh, Candy", "The Ballad of TV Violence", and their live album, "At Budokon" was originally one of the biggest selling imports at the time and incredibly influential. Their label didn't even want to release it in the U.S.! I think their VERY underrated.

5. THE LA'S
The only album by this band. Has the song "There she goes" on it, which Six Pence None The Richer covered and is on every commericial for women's anti-perspirant!? Lee Mavers, the leader and head writer of the band, hated this album so much that he somehow got complete control of their second album. He's supposedly so anal and a complete control freak, that the album will probably never see the light of day. A great album that's a forebearer of the Britpop sound and still sounds very timeless.

6. PAVEMENT
One of the best Indie bands of the 90s. Every one of their 5 albums are great. "Slanted and Enchanted", their first, being my favorite. Great song writing, great guitar playing, and their original drummer was incredible. They even had an Alternative hit with "Cut my Hair" but never really strived to make it big and stayed pretty true to themselves. A lot of people say their sound is a rip-off of The Fall, I see it some ways, but when I hear a Pavement song, I KNOW it's a Pavement song.

7. XTC
Ahhhh...XTC. One of my favorite bands of all time. I really don't think Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding can do any wrong. I've liked every album of theirs. From the beginning when they were a post-punk, angular guitar band, to their more recent stuff, that is very British Pop. They almost had a hit with "Dear God" from Skylarking, which a lot of people know them from. But to me, my all time favorite album is Black Sea.

8. VIOLENT FEMMES
A cult classic first album that seems to be constantly rediscovered by every new generation. They seemed to get worse with each new album, but their first album broke a lot of new ground. Kind of a folk-punk sound with almost emo-sounding lyrics. Always a classic.

9. THE UNDERTONES
Originally Ireland's answer to The Ramones, but with only four albums to their name, they quickly changed from a three cord Punk band to a more sophisticated Pop band. Feargal Sharkey's whiny, nasal voice is a little hard to take some time, but the O'Neill Brothers, who wrote most of the songs, could come up with guitar hooks so good, you'd soon forget who was singing. It's incredible to see their progress over those four albums, and their last "The Sin of Pride", is really underappreciated.

10. THE STONE ROSES
They only had two albums, but their self-titled first, opened up a flood gate of British bands that would bring Britpop to the forefront in the mid 90s. Their first album is hard to describe, psychedelic, rock and dance music all melded into one. By their second album, Second Coming, which took 3 years to complete, drugs had taken over and ruined what could have been. It's actually not a bad album, going for a more Hard Rock sound, but nothing like their influential first.

102 MOVIES THAT YOU SHOULD SEE

Film critic Jim Emerson recently compiled a list of 102 movies that you should see before you can consider yourself movie-literate:

"...they [are] the movies you just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies. They're the common cultural currency of our time, the basic cinematic texts that everyone should know, at minimum, to be somewhat "movie-literate."

Here's his list. The ones with an asterisk are the ones I've seen.

* 2001: A Space Odyssey
* The 400 Blows
*8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
* Alien
All About Eve
* Annie Hall
* Apocalypse Now
* Bambi
The Battleship Potemkin
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Red One
*The Bicycle Thief
The Big Sleep
* Blade Runner
*Blowup
* Blue Velvet
*Bonnie and Clyde
*Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
*Carrie
Casablanca
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
* Chinatown
* Citizen Kane
* A Clockwork Orange
* The Crying Game
*The Day the Earth Stood Still
Days of Heaven
* Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
* Do the Right Thing
La Dolce Vita
*Double Indemnity
* Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
* E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial
*Easy Rider
* The Empire Strikes Back
*The Exorcist
* Fargo
* Fight Club
*Frankenstein
The General
* The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
Gone With the Wind
* GoodFellas
* The Graduate
*Halloween
* A Hard Day's Night
Intolerance
It's a Gift
* It's a Wonderful Life
*Jaws
The Lady Eve
Lawrence of Arabia
M
*Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
The Maltese Falcon
The Manchurian Candidate
Metropolis
Modern Times
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
*The Night of the Hunter
*Night of the Living Dead
* North by Northwest
Nosferatu
* On the Waterfront
*Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
*Pink Flamingos
*Psycho
* Pulp Fiction
Rashomon
* Rear Window
*Rebel Without a Cause
Red River
*Repulsion
The Rules of the Game
* Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
* Schindler's List
*The Searchers
* The Seven Samurai
Singin' in the Rain
*Some Like It Hot
A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
*Sunset Boulevard
* Taxi Driver
The Third Man
Tokyo Story
* Touch of Evil
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
*Trouble in Paradise
*Vertigo
* West Side Story
*The Wild Bunch
* The Wizard of Oz

I've seen a total of 63. Either I'm very movie-literate or I need to get a life. How'd you do? Post a comment and let me know.

COMIC BOOK MOVIES THATSMELL OF MONKEY POO!Part 1

After hours of long work and questioning various Humans by my Monkey Army, here are the final results for the worst Comic Book movies ever made:

15. Swamp Thing

All the basic elements are still here from the comic, Allec Holland falls into a swamp after a massive explosion brought on by some evil henchmen of Arcane. An evil criminal mastermind who wants to steal Alec's magic concoction. But Wes Craven wants to turn this into a spoofy monster movie from the 1950s. Totally missing the gothic horror of the 1970s Comic by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. Awful acting by Adrienne Barbeau and also spawned a sequel (what was the studio thinking) with Heather Locklear!?!!

14.Steel

Yeah, great idea...let's make a movie starring that great thespian Shaquille O'Neal and let's not even use much of the source material from DC's Steel comic book. Stick to Basketball, or something that doesn't involve talking, you mumbling giant.

13.Howard the Duck

Steve Gerber's Marvel Comic is given it's big screen incarnation strarring Lea Thompson (post Back to the Future) and Tim Robbins!!? A great actor who probably shouldn't even be in this movie, but he was young and starving, so we'll forgive him. The comic book had such a cult following and any attempts to bring its originality to the screen failed miserably. Goofy and sophomoric--should appeal to kids and coma patients.

12.Superman 3

After two great Superman movies we're offered this piece of poo. Richard Pryor stars with Christopher Reeves in this slapstick version of Superman. Best parts: The evil Superman flicking peanuts at bottles in a bar and Superman and Clark Kent battling it out in a junkyard with Clark getting crushed in the heavy machinery. Hilarious!

11.Batman Forever

The third Batman movie is the first directed by Joel Schumacher--oh, why did you leave us Tim Burton? Totally trashing what Burton had brought to the earlier Batman movies--a dark, brooding Batman--Schumacher gives us Val Kilmer as Batman. Blonde and bland. Trying to get more bang for their buck, Robin shows up plus Two-face and Jim Carrey over-acting as usual, as The Riddler. A Neon piece of dog turd.

10.Elektra

Jennifer Garner stars in this prequel to the just-as-crappy Daredevil. This ain't Frank Miller's version of Elektra, this is a movie with awful acting by Garner and a bunch of flying ninjas and Typhoid Mary thrown in just for the hell of it. Crap!

COMIC BOOK MOVIES THAT SMELL OF MONKEY POO!Part 2

More Comic Book movie badness gathered by my Monkey army.

9.Judge Dredd

Sylvester Stallone stars as Judge Dredd, a cop in the future who in the Comic book version is judge and jury. Not so in the watered down movie version where Judge Dredd is made more sympathetic and boring. In the comic he would have shot first and asked questions later. In the movie we see none of that and have to suffer through Rob Schneider for comedy relief. Crap!

8.Tank Girl

Jamie Hewlett's Tank Girl is one movie that probably should have stayed a Comic Book. The comic is funny and has great art but it just doesn't translate well to the movie version. Lori Petty is annoying and Iggy Pop makes a cameo as a half human, half kangaroo ripper. The only good thing about this movie was the animated sequences. Maybe they should have just made an animated version!

7.The Punisher

Now I'm talking about the Dolph Lundgren version, not the new one. Which probably should be on here too but isn't. Dolph stars as The Punisher, with his blonde hair dyed black, riding around on his motorcycle shooting all the bad guys. Really funny fight scenes that aren't meant to be and just plain bad. He doesn't even have his cool skull logo on his shirt. C'mon!

6.The Hulk

Ang Lee's Hulk should have been good. A great director with a rich back story from the original Comic Books. But it just didn't work. Very slow-paced at the beginning and only really gets going when the Hulk is fighting and smashing things. Which is the only good thing about this movie. I would have paid for a whole movie of the Hulk just fighting with eveyone, but not so here. Nick Nolte overacts in the whole movie and looks like Charles Manson on crack. Has an awful tacked-on ending which presumably was meant to imply a sequel. Let's hope not.

5.The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Alan Moore's League is brought to the big screen starring Sean Connery as Adam Quatermain. The comic is incredible, bringing various literary characters together to fight crime for the English government. The movie version has, with the cast from the comic version, Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray as two of the most annoying crime fighters ever. Boring!! No wonder Alan Moore doesn't want his name on any movie versions of his work.

COMIC BOOK MOVIES THAT SMELL OF MONKEY POO! Part 3

And now for the grand finale!

4.Spawn

Todd Mcfarlane's Spawn isn't all bad, there's some good special effects and the look of the movie is pretty true to the Comic Book. But then there's John Leguizamo as a demonic Clown, over-acting and really annoying, and Martin Sheen as Spawn's evil government supervisor, who seems to have forgotten how to act entirely. I actually thought the HBO cartoon version was much better--maybe they should have just done an animated movie altogether.

3.Daredevil

Ben Affleck stars as Matt Murdock, alias Daredevil, in this stinker. Taking much of the story from Frank Miller's Elektra saga, you'd think they wouldn't be able to screw things up. Sorry to say, they did. Ben Affleck is annoying as ever, stiff and boring, Jennifer Garner as Elektra is totally miscast. Collin Farrell as Bullseye, sent out to kill Daredevil, is so over the top he's actually kind of enjoyable to watch. Best scene, the fight between Matt Murdock and Elektra in the playground. Balancing on see-saws and flipping around like idiots while no one seems to notice. Crap!

2.Catwoman

DC Comics' Catwoman shows up on the big screen starring Halle Berry. Totally ignoring the comic book version and coming up with an all new origin, doesn't help matters much either. Halle Berry's Catwoman costume is hilarious, with her big cat forehead and ripped up bondage outfit. Sharon Stone is awful as a super-powered billionairess who turns to stone at the end of the movie. Her real-life face lift looking much the same as her rock hard face in the movie. Cat turd!

1.Batman & Robin

Ah, the biggest poo smelling movie rises to the top of the crap pile. The fourth in the Batman series and the second directed by Joel Schumacher stars George Clooney as Batman and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mister Freeze. Arnold spouts such classic one-liners as "Cool out" and "Put them on ice". Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy doing her Poison Ivy things. Alicia Silverstone as Alfred's niece who becomes Batgirl (what?!) later on in the movie. Even Bane shows up for the hell of it. Stupidest parts, the costume changing sequence with Batman, Robin and Batgirl, who all seem to have erect nipples on their costumes and when Batman whips out his Bat credit card to bid on something at an auction. Where does he get his bill sent for this credit card, the Batcave? Bat crap!

V FOR VENDETTA OR V FOR VACATION--FROM WORK THAT IS!

Went to see V for Vendetta last Thursday at a special screening for work--aren't I special? Now, who wouldn't want to spend 2 hours at a movie theater and get paid for it, especially when it's not something that you don't want to get paid for and watch...like Catwoman, maybe. Well, the movie was good, not the best comic book movie ever, but good. Granted, they left a lot out of the movie which was in the original graphic novel, like all the subplots with the minor characters, and changed things here and there, but still pretty true to the original story. Natalie Portman was very good, although her English accent sounded a bit Australian every now and then, and Hugo Weaving was great. Considering he had a mask on through the whole movie, his acting was incredible. So all and all, I'd give it 4 bananas out of 5, although there were no monkeys in the film--so I fling my poo at whoever's idea that was! Check out the official website for the incredible poster designs...

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

I just re-read Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange for probably the 5th time. Okay, I know that's pretty pathetic, but everyone has a book that they've probably read more than once in their life. Or at least I hope they do. The thing about this version of the book is that it has the original ending in it, which wasn't in the movie. I guess Kubrick used the American version of the book for the film and the last chapter had been cut by the original American editor. The first time I read this "new" version, I didn't think it added much to the original story --Alex goes back to his life of ultraviolence, but as he grows older, he becomes bored with it and sees himself as more mature than his new droogs and wants something different. He wants a girlfriend, a family and what he sees as a normal life, so he quits his nasty ways. The movie and original book ends with him in his hospital bed, cured and dreaming of a new life of ultraviolence. Now, I think is the better ending--Alex will learn in time that what he does is wrong but he'll have his brand of fun in the meantime. The audience really doesn't need to be shown that he'll quit his evil ways. Check out this Malcolm McDowell webpage which is predominantly A Clockwork Orange related. In addition to a description how to make an Alex costume, and a Nadsat dictionary, the site offers numerous other navigation items relating to the film, such as "Articles", "Book History", "Media Mentions", "Pop Culture", "Props", deleted scenes and "X- versus R-rated Versions".

HOT MAN ON MONKEY ACTION!

What the hell was up with old comics and their unintentionally funny covers? The Tarzan one almost looks like Tarzan is trying to persuade the monkey for a little of the in-out, in-out--if you know what I mean. The Moon Pilot one is more confusing--are they trying to imply that the monkey is a girl from outer space? And the guy looks a little too happy to be holding that monkey...maybe he's been in space far too long. Follow the link for more via maddox--or I'll fling my monkey poo at you!

COPPER

Kazu Kibuishi's Copper webcomic is a really well-drawn and beautifully colored comic. I don't know if it's the way it's colored or just the format but in some ways it reminds me of Windsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland. There's also a great step-by-step guide on how it's drawn and then colored in photoshop. Check it out!

ARCTIC MONKEY NEWS

Okay, this isn't exactly real monkey news--but hey, it's better than nothing. And what monkey could survive in the arctic anyways, they'd either be eaten by a polar bear or freeze to death! The Arctic Monkeys 1st album came out a few weeks ago and although they aren't the second coming of The Clash, it still rocks. I had discovered them awhile back when they were recommended by a friend. Best songs--"I bet you look good on the dance floor" and "Fake tales of San Francisco". Both sound a bit like early Gang of Four--angular guitar rock, and a bit punky. Check out their Myspace page to see what they sound like.

WEIRD TALES OF THE RAMONES

Is it a comic book, a best of package or just something that's hard to store with your other cds? I don't know, but I just had to have it. Pretty good song selection...but not in chronological order...which always pisses me off with best-of packages. The big selling point for me was the comic book though. Suck-ass outside cover but the comic book cover is great...William Stout, with interior artwork by Jamie Hernandez, Wayno, Steve Vance, Jim Woodring, Sergio Aragones and others. It Even has a 3-D story (with glasses) written by DC's Johnny "Conspiracy" Vankin. Buy it! if you can afford it, that is...

DICK CHEESE!

Richard Cheese's greatest hits CD is out! For those of you who aren't familiar with the Cheese, he does lounge versions of songs that you wouldn't think could be done. Disturbed's "Down with the sickness", Offspring's "Come out and play", Pink Floyd's "Another brick in the wall", Radiohead's "Creep"...you get the picture. Check out his Myspace page or download his stuff off itunes...just do it!

STAR WARS GONE MAD!

Heh! What if Star Wars starred other people...Check out what it would look like on the Star Wars Photoshoping Project. Now where's the Three Stooges one?