Monkey Buzzz

25 DESERT ISLAND DISCS

2009-02-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

25 albums that you COULD NOT live without if you were stranded on a desert island--assuming there was electricity on this island--and the reasons WHY you couldn't live without them. What are yours?

1.London Calling: The Clash--My all time favorite Clash album. It covers a lot of different musical genres, which I like, and showed, at the time it came out, that they could do other stuff besides punk music.
2.Tusk: Fleetwood Mac--When I was a kid, my Mother used to listen to this constantly. I've grown very fond of the Lyndsey Buckingham stuff. Thanks Mom!
3.The Stone Roses: The Stone Rose--One of my all time favorite Brit-rock albums. Hugely influential.
4.The Beatles: The White Album--I like how this album basically has each Beatle doing their own thing. I especially like John Lennon's contributions.
5. The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds--My Parents used to listen to this too when I was a kid. It's such a sad and sweet album that is still hugely influential today.
6.Big Star: #1 Record--A great hybrid of the best parts of The Beatles, The Byrds, The Kinks and Power Pop. I practically fell out of my chair the first time I heard this, plus I'm a sucker for most Alex Chilton stuff.
7.Big Star: Third/Sisters, Lovers--Their last album, and with only Alex Chilton plus the drummer remaining. A depressing album, which I hated when I first heard it, but it quickly grew on me.
8.A Clockwork Orange: Soundtrack--I love the synthesizer versions of ol' Ludwig Van by Wendy Carlos, plus I like the original music she did for the movie too. It also influenced a lot of 80s synth bands.
9.Husker Du: Zen Arcade--A concept album by Minneapolis' most melodic Hard-core punk band. I especially like the Grant Hart stuff.
10.Teenage Fanclub: Bandwagonesque--When I first bought this album I almost wore out the cd. I love how they were really influenced by Big Star but with a grungy edge also.
11.The Jam: All Mod Cons--Probably my favorite Jam album. It shows how Paul Weller had really grown as a song writer compared to their first two albums.
12.The La's: The La's--The only really good album from this band. A combination of Brit-pop, Beatles-sounding songs.
13.Neil Young: Everybody Knows this is Nowhere--I really loves me some "Cinammon Girl"!
14.Panda Bear: Person Pitch--A weird combination of the Beach Boys and trance-like dirges.
15.The Replacements: Let it Be--Probably my favorite Replacements album. It really shows Paul Westerberg stretching as a song writer.
16.The Shins: Chutes too Narrow-- I really hated this album when I first heard it, but it slowly grew on me.
17.The Smiths: The Queen is Dead--Probably my favorite Smiths album.
18.Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation--favorite song, "Teenage Riot".
19.The Specials: The Specials--I loves me some British Ska and this album is that at its best.
20.The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo--When the Byrds went country with Gram Parsons in the band. Anything he sings on this album is a highlight.
21.Spirtualized: Songs in A & E--Another really depressing album that I really like!
22.The Velvet Underground: Loaded--The album that launched a million bands. I wonder what the modern equivalent is to this?
23.The Who: Live at Leeds--The best live album EVER!!
24.XTC: Drums and Wires--I'm a sucker for most XTC. This is by far my favorite.
25. Pink Floyd: Wish you were Here--A love letter to Syd Barrett.

ROBOT 11

2009-01-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

This is a 2 page story I did a while back in art school when I was a wee monkey. I recently re-lettered it on the computer. Click on the pics for larger versions. Hope you like it!

THE BEST MOVIES OF 2008

2008-12-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

I really didn't see that many movies in theaters in 2008, but of the ones I DID see, these are the ones I consider to be the best.

THE DARK KNIGHT

I was blown away with this when I first saw it in an Imax theater for work. I enjoyed Batman Begins, but I thought this was a much better film than the first. Christian Bale was great as Batman, although his "Batman voice" started to get a bit annoying after a while, but the real star of this movie is Heath Ledger. He gives a knockout performance as the Joker. Playing a psychotic and crazy Joker, as opposed to Jack Nicholson's goofy and loony version in Tim Burton's Batman. The whole cast is incredible and the music and direction are great too. Probably the best movie I saw this year.

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

I'm a sucker for most Woody Allen movies, be they comedies or dramas. And his last few films, Match Point, Scoop, have been good too. This movie had me from the beginning, with its funny voice-over narration and Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall playing totally opposite friends on vacation in Barcelona. While there they meet a womanizing Spanish artist, played by Javier Bardem, at an art show and Scarlett's character is quickly attracted to him. That's when the story takes off, with both girls eventually each sleeping with him and his crazy ex-wife, played by Penélope Cruz, showing up later and causing all kinds of turmoil. A funny movie about life and the decisions you make.

IRON MAN

I thought this was more of a Superhero movie than The Dark Knight was. Iron Man was just plain fun and showed everyone else how a Superhero movie should be made. With great direction by Jon Favreau and Robert Downey jr. well cast as Tony Stark. The ending was a bit clichéd, with a huge battle between iron Man and his mentor gone bad, but overall, a great movie!

CLOVERFIELD

Now this is how a giant monster movie should be done! I really liked how it was shot, from the point of view of the characters holding a video camera , with a lot of quick edits and just a few shots of the giant monster. But when you do get to see the monster, it's an original and new take on how a monster should look. Watch this all the way to the end credits too, because there's a hidden message concerning the monster. A great and original take on the giant monster genre.

FUNNY GAMES

I first saw the original version of this, from 1997, when I rented it from Netflix not too long ago. This new version, both directed by Michael Haneke, is basically a shot-for-shot remake of the original. Both pack a punch--with the main characters breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience about what they should do concerning a family they've taken hostage. Extremely disturbing and original. I kept thinking about it days after I had seen it.

SOME NEW ARTWORK

2008-10-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here's some paintings I've done recently trying to release my inner Jackson Pollack. This time, instead of flinging poo at the canvas, I thought I'd try some paint…I kind of like how they came out. Especially the first one.

WHY I'VE GIVEN UP ON WEEZER

2008-06-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

I just finished listening to Weezer's new Red Album--by the way, can they not think of more original titles for their albums, or are they just going through the whole color spectrum? I have to say I'm really disappointed with this and have been with their last few CDs. There are a few good songs--"Pork and Beans", "Dreamin'", but 2 songs do not make an album. Rivers even attempts to write a Rock Opera--"The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived". Which has some of the most God-awful, unintentionally funny lyrics he's ever written. If listeners buy this expecting Weezer circa The Blue Album and Pinkerton, they're going to be sadly dissapointed. Maybe Rivers is happy now with life in general and not in the same state of mind of those earlier classic albums. When he seemed obssessed with girls, stardom, and self-doubt. So in the end, I've given up on you Weezer. See Ya!
Follow the link to their "Islands in the Sun" video directed by Spike Jonze which has an appearance by one of my Monkey friends and some other zoo animals.

IRON MAN!

2008-05-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Went to see Iron Man Friday night, and I must say it was a great movie from start to finish. Robert Downey Jr played a great Tony Stark. A womanizing, big-headed genius at the beginning of the movie, who changes his ways when he sees what happens with the weapons he creates end up in the hands of the wrong people.
Everyone in the cast was fantastic too--Jeff Bridges, Terence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow. Although Gwyneth Paltrow was a bit too damsel-in-distress for my tastes. She's a much better actress for what the part needed from her. Hilarious cameo appearance by Stan Lee as a Hugh Hefner look alike, too.
Great Direction from Jon Favreau with equal parts action, humor and drama and he's even in the movie as one of Tony Stark's bodyguards.
So in the end, a fantastic movie with regrettably not one monkey actor in the cast. Although there is an Iron Man suit later in the movie that's a bit Gorilla-like. Oh, and stay all the way until the last credits roll. There's a surprise appearance by Samuel L. Jackson!??

SOME ARTWORK--ONE DEAD ROCK STAR AND ONE MISERABLE ONE

2008-05-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here's some pencil sketches I did a while back when I ran out of bananas and was bored with poo flinging. The first is of everyone's favorite acid casualty, Syd Barrett, who I've been told, never met a monkey he didn't like. The second is of Morrissey, who, if he was a monkey, would be the most miserable one I knew, and would probably fling his poo at himself. Enjoy!

NEW MUSIC FOR NOW PEOPLE

2006-08-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

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)

2006-05-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-09T12:28:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

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!