Arcade Fire Live on YouTube

Tonight Arcade Fire is holding a live webcast of their concert at Madison Square Garden on YouTube.  Not gonna lie, I am excited for this show.  I've read on many occasions that Arcade Fire is incredible live, but being in the Inland Northwest I highly doubt they will play anywhere near here (well maybe Seattle).  This live webcast will give me the chance to finally see what an Arcade Fire show is all about.

Another thing I am looking forward to with the concert is that Terry Gilliam is set to direct the concert.  You may be asking who is Terry Gilliam?  Well he is the on of the guys behind Monty Python and the director of movies like 12 Monkeys, Brazil and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Heath Ledger's last film).  If you have every experienced anything Terry has done you know that his projects tend to be visually stunning.  Because of that I am interested to see what he has planned for a concert.

The combination of Arcade Fire and Terry Gilliam makes the concert a must see.  I highly recommend everyone tune in and check it out.  Here is the link for the webcast.

http://www.youtube.com/ArcadeFireVEVO

The concert starts at 7 pm PST.  Be sure to check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Arcade Fire's New Album "The Suburbs" Initial Thoughts

Today is the official release date for the new Arcade Fire called "The Suburbs".  I've spent the last few days listening to it and I love it.  I don't think it is quite as good as their debut album "Funeral", but I do enjoy it more than their last album "Neon Bible".

 

I would like to spend a little more time with the album before I give it a full detailed review.  I mean I have only been listening to it while working at my desk so it hasn't gotten 100% of my attention.  I am able to give a few insights about it though.  I would have to say my favorite song so far on the album is Modern Man.  I don't know what it is about it, but it's fun and when I first heard it I immediately enjoyed it.  The song right after Modern Man, Rococo is a great song to sing in the car.  Just repeating Rococo over and over again.


I feel like the first album packs more of a bunch and is more upbeat and enjoyable to listen to, while the later half just kind of strolls along with songs that tend to blend together.  My favorite song in the second half of the album is probably Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).  I think part of the reason for me enjoying this song is because Regina is the main singer so it's a nice change of pace from Win, the bands lead singer and Regina's husband.  I also really enjoy this line from the song: "Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains and theres no end in sight".  


I haven't really looked too much into the lyrics but the overall theme of the album is about suburbian life and the highs and lows of it.


Right now I would have to say that this album is my favorite of the year so far.  Arcade Fire has come out with another outstanding album and don't appear to be losing their touch.  I highly recommend the album and feel that people should start appreciating the good music that's out there and support a band like Arcade Fire.

Top Ten Albums of 2010 (so far)

1.  Local Natives: Gorilla Manor
2.  Suckers: Wild Smile
3.  The National:  High Violet
4.  Shearwater:  The Golden Archipelago
5.  Frightened Rabbit:  The Winter of Mixed Drinks
6.  The Tallest Man on Earth: The Wild Hunt
7.  Spoon:  Transference
8.  Broken Bells:  Broken Bells
9.  Blitzen Trapper: Destroyer of the Void
10.  Band of Horses:  Infinite Arms

Honorable Mention:  The Morning Benders, Titus Andronicus, Janelle Monae, Big Boi, The Roots, Avi Buffalo, Sleigh Bells, Josh Ritter

Inception Review

Masterpiece.  Incredible.  Amazing.  Easily the best film of 2010.  These are just a few of the words I would use to describe Inception.  For those of you that don't know Inception is the new film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the same director that made Memento and The Dark Knight.  Christopher Nolan apparently started writing this film when he was 16 and then spent the better part of the past 10 years perfecting it and perfecting it he did.

I should probably start with a little rundown of what the film is about, which may be hard to do without giving away to many details.  Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, a man who is an expert at accessing peoples dreams and extracting information for them.  Cobb is hired by Saito, played by Ken Watanabe, to go beyond extracting information by trying to implant information instead.  This is known as Inception and it is something that has never really been tried before.  Cobb must construct a team that will help him complete this task.  Cobb recruits his usual partner, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), along with Eames (Tom Hardy), Ariadne (Ellen Page), and Yusuf (Dileep Rao).  The man whose mind they are to enter is Robert Fischer Jr (Cillian Murphy), he is the son and heir of a company that rivals Saito's.  This is where I should stop with the plot synopsis.

Once Cobb and his team enters Fischer's mind, that is where the fun begins.  This is when the mind boggling special effects start coming at you one after another.  One of the best scenes in the movie is one you may recall from the trailers.  This is where Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Arthur, is in a hotel hallway and he encounters some security guards and the hallway begins to rotate.  Arthur and the security guards are chasing each other while climbing on the walls, ceiling and floor.  It's pretty hard to describe but when you see it, you can't help but be blown away.  This is just one of many scenes throughout Inception where you just shake your head and wonder how they did that.  I look forward to the DVD so I can watch the making of featurettes for these scenes.

I remember seeing The Dark Knight opening night and being blown away and feeling that it was absolutely incredible.  Once again that is how I walked out after seeing Inception.  When trying to decide which one I enjoyed more I have to say Inception.  With Inception there was not one single dull moment, I was never bored.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and kept being blown away with the special effects.  And after the movie you can't help but want to sit down and discuss it.  If you are like me you will immediately want to see it again.

Inception is by far the best movie of 2010.  It's got the action of a big summer blockbuster and a great original story that you don't see anymore in this age of remakes and sequels.  Go see Inception and be blown away.  You will want to see it multiple times and will have many highly entertaining discussions about it.  Stop reading this and go see it NOW!!!

Inception Preview

Today is the release day for the new Christopher Nolan film called Inception.  This is Nolan's first film since The Dark Knight which set box office records all over the place.  Inception has an incredible cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Caine.

Inception is a film that has been on my radar for quite sometime now, initially because I have enjoyed all of Christopher Nolan's films and lately because of how incredible the cast is and how original the story is.  One of my very first encounters with this film was a teaser website that was created that contained only a spinning top.  When I came across this website, I loved it.  It appeared that this movie would have the same viral marketing campaign that The Dark Knight had.  Thats also when I decided I wasn't going to engulf myself in the viral marketing like I did with The Dark Knight.  I decided that I was going to try and stay in the dark when it came to Inception.  I wasn't going to read any articles about it, watch any featurettes about it and learn to much about it's plot.  Inception just seems like the type of film where going in knowing nothing will make it more of an experience.

As the release date has gotten closer and closer it's been a lot harder to not find out too much about Inception.  One thing I have decided to let myself know is the reviews the film has been getting.  I haven't been reading the reviews word for word to prevent any major plot details and scene breakdowns but I have been reading the summaries to see if the reviews are positive or not.  Not surprisingly a majority of the reviews have been extremely positive.  Many of the reviews are calling Inception the best film of the year and Nolan's masterpiece.  They say that this could be the film that gives Christopher Nolan the Best Director Oscar nomination he so rightly deserves and a great chance to win the Best Picture award at the Oscars.  Not all the reviews have been positive.  A few of the negative reviews say that the film lacks emotion and can be quite confusing.  But given the strong nature of the positive reviews, I have extremely high expectations for this film.

Tonight I will be seeing Inception at the IMAX so stay tuned for a review.  I look forward to being blown away from this film like I was with The Dark Knight.

World Cup Final

Ladies and gentlemen, today is the day we have been waiting for, the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final.  For the past month the best soccer the world has to over has been on display in South Africa.  Today it all comes down to a historic match between the Netherlands and Spain.  Neither team has one the World Cup before.

To reach the finals, the Netherlands had to win Group E, then beat Slovakia (2-1), Brazil (2-1) and Uruguay (3-2).  All games were close and extremely enjoyable to watch.  The Brazil game wasn't 100% watchable since I wanted Brazil to win, but as a soccer fan it was a good game to watch. The leading scorer for the Netherlands is Wesley Sneijder who currently has 5 goals, putting him in a tie for the Golden Boot, which goes to the leading goal scorer throughout the entire World Cup.

For Spain to reach the finals, they had to win Group H, then beat Portugal (1-0), Paraguay (1-0), and Germany (1-0).  Looking at that road to the final, you can tell they had a tough road.  Portugal was ranked the 3rd best team in the world and Germany was probably the hottest team in the World Cup.  Spain also has a player on their team that is tied in the lead for the Golden Boot, David Villa.  Villa has actually scored 5 of the teams 7 goals.

When you look at both teams, it's hard to determine which one will win the game.  Spain has been winning low scoring games showing that they are strong defensively.  Netherlands has been showing that they are strong offensively by winning high scoring games.  So which style of play will win when it all matters?  I put my money on Spain, I mean they do always say defense wins championships.  But I also feel that Spain has the quality of players with David Villa and Fernando Torres to score plenty of goals to win the game.  I have a feeling this game will be a classic and go down as one of the greatest World Cup games ever.  No matter who you want to win, enjoy the last game in what has been a great month of soccer.

Twilight Thoughts

Tonight at midnight is the opening of the latest movie in the Twilight Saga, Eclipse.  This is the third movie of the four book series (the last book will be made into 2 movies).  For those of you that don't know anything about the series, it is about this average girl, Bella, that falls in love with a boy, Edward, at her school.  It turns out that Edward is a vampire, but that doesn't stop Bella from falling for him.  Edward tries to tell Bella it won't work but she doesn't care.  Bella has this family friend named Jacob.  Jacob ends up falling for Bella.  But of course Jacob turns out to be a werewolf and warns Bella of the dangers of Edward and vampires.  Bella becomes torn between Jacob and Edward, but she knows she must make a decision.

Now I'm no expert on this series, I have read 3 of the 4 books and saw the first movie.  I found the books to be enjoyable but nowhere near being masterpieces.  They were easy to read and near the end of each book hard to put down.  While reading them it's not hard to see why girls enjoy them so much.  They are fairly mushy and deal a lot with Bella's feelings for both Edward and Jacob.  I feel another aspect that may attract the females is the idea of forbidden love.  The idea that Bella and Edward do love each other but know it may not work out because of Edward being a vampire.  Another draw to the series may be the fact that Jacob and Edward will pretty much do anything they can to protect Bella and keep her from harms way.

Even if I did find the books to be enjoyable, the movies are a completely different monster.  The first movie, Twilight, seems like it was rushed and made as cheaply as possible.  The special effects in the movie are down right laughable.  I remember sitting in the movie theater and laughing out loud when Bella and Edward are running through the forest and climbing up trees.  It was so bad, you could find better effects in a made for TV Sci-Fi channel movie.  Not only were the effects bad, but the acting was downright horrid.  The books are emotional, you can feel the attraction, in the movies you wonder if they even like each other.  There are no looks of desire and passion, just emptiness.  I can't really comment on the second movie, New Moon, since I never saw it, but judging from reviews it is worse than the first movie.  The reviews for the latest movie, Eclipse, have started rolling in and it appears that the consensus is that it is the best of the three movies, but not that great.

Even though the books are alright and some of the movies may be watchable, there is one thing you can't deny, Twilight is a world wide phenomenon.  Everywhere you look you see Twilight this and Twilight that.  Walk into any high school or middle school and Twilight is what you will hear the girls talking about.  Walk down any magazine aisle in a grocery store and you will see pictures of Bella, Edward and Jacob on at least 50% of the covers.  When you watch TV you will find ads asking whether you are on Team Edward or Team Jacob.  Saturday Night Live is doing sketches making fun of Twilight.  It's one of those things that has completely encompassed all of society.  No matter who you talk to, someone has something to say about the series.

Whether you absolutely love Twilight or hate it with every bone in your body, you can't deny it's success.  Will it still be a topic of conversation 15 years from now?  Probably not, but it is the current sensation that you can't get around no matter how hard you try.  If you are looking for a way better vampire movie based off a book see Let The Right One In.  And guys if your girlfriend wants to see the movies, be lucky that they aren't as bad as movies like Valentine's Day.

USA vs Ghana 2nd Half/Extra Time

I don't know what Coach Bradley said at halftime but whatever it was it fired up the US soccer team.  The USA came out for the 2nd half with an energy and fire that was missing in the 1st half.  They were able to start getting decent shots on goal and put Ghana on their heels.  In the 62nd minute, the US finally caught a break when Clint Dempsey was fouled in the penalty box.  This allowed Landon Donovan a chance to take the penalty kick.  Donovan waited for the ref's whistle and once that sounded he kicked the ball and hit the right post, the ball sneaking into the goal.  Finally the US was on the board and the score was tied 1-1.

For the rest of the game the US tried hard to score again, but nothing went their way.  Ghana seemed content and didn't really have any chance at scoring.  Since nothing was going the American's way, the game ended in a 1-1 tie, but since this was the knockout round their would be another 30 minutes of play and if it was still tied after that, the game would come down to penalty kicks.  Three minutes into the overtime play, the US defense once again gave up a ball and Ghana was on the run and scored a goal that should never have happened.  This goal completely deflated the US.  They seemed to lose all the energy they had and Ghana was able to control the game.  The final whistle blew with the score Ghana 2, the US 1.  The US players dropped to their knees in despair while the Ghana players jumped in the air in celebration.

To me the US weren't that impressive during the World Cup.  They never played to their potential until their backs were against the wall, whether it was being down 2-0 to Slovenia or waiting until the 90th minute to finally score against Algeria.  Playing that way will catch up to you sooner or later and it did against Ghana.  Hopefully in the next few years the US will learn to start a game and not allow early goals and maybe score some themselves.  Heres to 2014 where hopefully the US can show the world they are ready to play with the big boys like Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Germany and Brazil.

USA vs Ghana - First Half

Unless you have been living in a cave, you know that the USA has advanced to the Round of 16 in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  Their opponent in the first knockout round is Ghana, the only African nation left in the World Cup.  Ghana and the USA have only played once and that was in the 2006 World Cup when Ghana defeated the US in the last game of group play eliminating the USA.

The USA apparently loves giving up early goals in games.  They did it against England in their first game.  Slovenia in their second game and were inches away from giving one up against Algeria in their third game.  So is it really surprising that the USA gave up a goal in the first 5 minutes of the game?  The goal wasn't even that pretty, the defense just gave the ball away near midfield and Ghana was able to counter and score.  From what I can tell that goal hasn't even woke up the US yet.  They are playing sloppy, giving up cheap fouls and have only really had one scoring chance.

The first half of this game has been extremely disappointing and boring.  I hope the US coach is able to give an inspiring halftime speech because they aren't playing like they want to win.

2010 FIFA World Cup: Week 1

The first week of the 2010 FIFA World Cup is almost over.  So far the first week of action hasn't been a disappointment.  Here are some of the highlights so far.

USA-England:  There was a lot of hype leading up to the game and I'm not quite sure the game lived up to it.  England was able to score a goal within the first 4 minutes which caused me to feel that it was gonna be a long game.  The US defense seemed like they didn't want to defend England giving them plenty of chances to score other goals.  The US offense couldn't get anything going.  Luckily in the 40th minute the US was given a gift when the goalie for England misplayed the ball and let it bounce of his hands into the goal.  When I saw Clint Dempsey kick the ball and it hit the goalies hands I thought the ball was stopped so I looked away and missed the ball slowly roll into goal.  There were a couple of chances for both teams in the 2nd half, but neither side was able to capitalize.  The game ended in a 1-1 draw giving both teams just 1 point in group play.  Next up for the US, Slovenia on Friday.

Spain-Switzerland:  Spain is a team that many feel have a chance to win it all.  In my ESPN Bracket Predictor, I selected them to make it to the semifinals.  Switzerland isn't necessarily a bad team, but when going up against Spain, you would expect Spain to dominate.  When you look at the stats of the game Spain appeared to have complete control.  Spain possessed the ball for 63% of the game and had 24 shots compared to Switzerland that had only 8 shots.  But in the 52nd minute Switzerland was able to put one of their shots in the goal and pulled off what many believe to be the biggest upset of the first round.

Germany-Australia:  Australia has a little place in my heart since I took them to the World Cup championship in the 2006 FIFA World Cup video game on the Gamecube.  Unfortunately they had to play the mighty Germany in their first game of the 2010 World Cup and boy to Germany give it to Australia.  Germany dominated the game and scored 4 goals.  The most by any team in the first series of games.  It was hard to not feel bad for Australia, they were dominated in every phase of the game.  Germany looked great and potentially dangerous for any team that has to play them after group play.

Group of Death:  The first big game in the Group of Death was played between Ivory Coast and Portugal.  Both these teams know it will be hard fight to advance since Brazil is in their group.  I had some pretty high expectations for this match but of course was disappointed when the game ended in a scoreless draw.  Either team played exceptionally well.  In the other game within this group, Brazil put on a fairly impressive performance against North Korea, winning the game 2-1.  The first goal of the game for Brazil was scored by Maicon and so for has got to be the best goal of the 2010 World Cup.

These are just a few of the things that have happened so far.  I hope to bring more updates about the World Cup soon.