Pimpin’ ain’t easy

One of the reasons I wanted to do a blog is to talk some smack about music, movies, and books. So from time to time, I’ll be pimping some stuff that I’m currently enjoying.

Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of movies on DVD, courtesy of Netflix, a great rental service that works through the Internet and the mail. I’ve had a great experience with them and highly recommend a membership to anyone who watches more than 4 movies a month. This week, I’ve watched The Producers, King of New York, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Of the three, King of New York was the one that impressed me the most. It’s hard to go wrong with Christopher Walken, but the cast also includes Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, and Steve Buscemi (in a minor role). It was an excellent flick, improved by some old-school rap on the soundtrack, but what impressed me most was the cinematography. This movie was beautifully shot, and the picture quality on the DVD was stunning. I usually skip over the technical part of DVD reviews when they start discussing the picture transfer, but I couldn’t help but notice how well-done this DVD was. For a movie made in 1990, King of New York looks terrific.

In between watching movies, I’ve been reading Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series of novels. The sequence begins with The Eyre Affair, continues with Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, and the just-released Something Rotten. Thursday Next is a literary detective who lives in an alternate Britain where Wales is an independent republic, the Germans occupied Britain during WWII, time travel is an everyday occurrence, and literary characters can leave their books and enter other stories or the real world. Thursday gets involved in a series of misadventures that lead her through various books, but what I enjoy is the absurd, Monty Python-esque humor, obscure literary references, and inordinate amounts of bad puns.

As for music, I’ve had two CDs in heavy rotation lately. First is “It Still Moves” by My Morning Jacket. I’m getting to these guys a little late, but I finally understand why so many people love this disc. There'’s been plenty of talk about them for the past 15 months or so, but they’ve got a great southern rock meets Neil Young sound that sounds very lived-in and comfortable. Great music for driving on country roads after dark with your windows rolled down. The second disc that I’ve been giving a lot of play to lately is “Hot Fuss” by the Killers. I keep reading reviews that compare them to Duran Duran, but I feel like they’ve got a bigger sound than Messrs. LeBon and company. I see why everyone wants to go there, because the Killers are clearly 80’s-inspired and there’s synth all over this album, and even though they’re from Vegas, they sound British. It’s interesting to me that bands from both sides of the Atlantic are making danceable rock. No one would accuse the Killers of ripping off Franz Ferdinand, but there’s definitely some similarities.

I’ve also been listening to a lot of old U2 lately, mostly War and The Unforgettable Fire. Sometimes, you just have to be reminded that they’ve always been a great band.