Month: August 2005

Abrupt Music Changes

/ joeygibson

I’m sitting here working while listening to my latest purchases for iTunes (curse them!) and I was just struck by an abrupt change in style. I have very eclectic musical tastes, so buying disparate styles at one time is not unusual for me. But sometimes when listening, I get caught off guard.

I started out today with Oingo Boingo‘s “Dead Man’s Party,” a classic. Next in line was the lovely Sara Evans doing a Dwight Yokam song. Next came the latest single from Liz Phair, which is quite good. OK, so far. Next was some old Eric Clapton and some even older Cream. A quick track by the one and only Lemmy Kilmister, singer/bassist for Motörhead, with an old KISS song. Then into a fairly long stretch with the entire Haus der Lüge album by the great Einstürzende Neubauten. That record lasted 45 minutes or so. Now here’s where the abrupt change occurs. The last Neubauten track ends and on comes… wait for it… “Looking for Love (in All the Wrong Places)” by Johnny Lee. I was jarred from my trance by that one…

The Amazing Has Happened

/ joeygibson

The amazing has happened. It really has. I mean it. What am I talking about? I’ve seen a film, a remake, that I actually thought was better than the original. What movie am I talking about?? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We went to see it because our son really wanted to, and I was curious what Tim Burton did with it. What he did is make a much mo’ better movie. While I do love the original, I think the new incarnation is a much better film. It’s funny and very Burton-esque, and it’s surprisingly not as “dark” as the original. I was in stitches through most of it.

This makes, I believe, only the second time I’ve found a remake better than the original. It doesn’t happen very often.