Pop Culture Blog: Music, Movie and Humor

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Heath, We Hardly Knew Ye


in Movies

I can sum up my opinions on the intricate and supreme masterpiece that is The Dark Knight in only one word: holy fucking shit, Batman. Everyone involved in the movie, from Chris Nolan right on down to the art director, brings their A-game and this is really one for the ages.

This summer has been a complete mental overload for me in terms of anticipated movies. I have now seen 2 of my top 3 – Indy 4 and TDK – with Tropic Thunder still a month away. The new Batman film, coupled with the remarkable Iron Man, have renewed my faith in the Superhero genre which I haven’t really paid any attention to since I was a little kid watching Superman II at an Ottawa-area drive-in. Not since General Zod came to town have I given a rat’s hindquarters about caped crusaders and I am glad to say that Bale, Freeman, Gyllenhall, Caine, Oldman, Eckhart and especially Ledger have slapped me back into DC/Marvel fandom.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSZkAIi7U-o[/youtube]

But it’s easy enough to parrot what everyone else is going to tell you about the film, so whilst I slurped coffee/played Scrabulous this morning I tried to really pinpoint reasons and moments behind Dark Knight kicking me in the bat-balls.

  • Katie Holmes isn’t in it. Her replacement, Maggie Gyllenhall makes up in actual talent what she lacks in her predecessor’s looks.
  • Comparing Ledger to Nicholson is apples to oranges, really. Heath’s Joker isn’t better than Jack’s, it’s just another extremely strong facet of the best and most unique superhero movie of the last 20 years. Burton’s original film and Nolan’s reboot are very different universes and neither Joker would fit well in the other’s greasepaint.
  • The special effects employed to turn Harvey Dent into Two Face will curdle your blood. I’ll leave it to you to find out exactly what I mean.
  • The ‘truck chase’ I’ll call it, when the Joker tried to capture Dent as he is being moved between jails is truly amazing – from the driving to the effects to the sound to the surprise twist upon its conclusion.
  • The ‘ferry scene’ and the way in which the people of Gotham surprise the joker with the humanity he didn’t believe they possessed is clever and touching.
  • The writing overall, particularly the many ways in which the Joker surprises and outsmarts the police, makes me want to start my own script. It’s that good.
  • Gary Oldman, one of my very favorite actors, gets a lot more screen time as Commissioner Gordon than he did in Batman Begins and we see a real character emerge – especially in relation to his desire to protect his family.
  • Batman goes to frigging Hong Kong to bring back a key criminal and uses an awesome variety of tools, courtesy of Lucious (Morgan Freeman) to do so. James Bond and Q must be seething with jealousy.
  • Alfred, Michael Caine, makes some questionable decisions as the dutiful servant and father figure to Bruce Wayne, but his love for both Bruce and Rachel is always evident.

I could go on, but I have a BBQ in Barhaven I must attend. Get your little bat-bottoms to this outstanding piece of cinema and I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did.

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Wednesday Wadio: Inappropriate Wedding Songs


in Wednesday Wadio

The 4 weddings (but hopefully not a funeral) I am attending in September have got me thinking about ways to possibly inject a little bit of fun into the proceedings. I’m lying – I am compiling a viral piece for a client and am looking for input. So I’ll put the question to you like this:

What is the most inappropriate song you can think of to be played during a wedding ceremony or reception?

So if you could request and possibly sneak one song past the filter of a wedding DJ, what’s the most cringe-worthy tune you can think of? A few pop into my mind immediately.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTjPnKITwss&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIX82jURxFE[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxxOyGK1pMk[/youtube]

I’m not talking about 2 Live Crew inappropriate. I’m looking for songs that might seem to jinx or doom the happy couple specifically. Have some fun with this, and I look forward to your suggestions and comments. Update: Here is the list I’m going to run with.

  • Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now – The Smiths
  • Separate Ways – Journey
  • Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
  • I Don’t Love Anyone – Belle and Sebastian
  • A Man Needs A Maid – Neil Young
  • A Quick One, While He’s Away – The Who
  • I Am Trying To Break Your Heart – Wilco
  • 50 Ways to Leave your Lover – Paul Simon
  • Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley
  • D-I-V-O-R-C-E – Tammy Wynette
  • I Hate Everything About You – Ugly Kid Joe
  • Run for Your Life – The Beatles
  • All my Exes Live in Texas – George Strait
  • You Give Love A Bad Name – Bon Jovi
  • Better Man – Pearl Jam
  • Wicked Game – Chris Issac
  • It’s the End of the World as we Know it – REM
  • She’s Having My Baby – Paul Anka
  • Another One Bites the Dust – Queen
  • If you Want to be Happy for the Rest of Your Life – Jimmy Soul

Thank you all for your suggestions, and I will let you know when the finished piece is live. The final version will have funny write-ups about each song, YouTube Videos and lyric snippets.

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The Dock Doctor


in Canadiana

Although we got the dock and boatlift in over a month ago, neither monstrosity has has been “sitting” properly on the lake bottom. One corner of the dock would dip frighteningly when stepped on and the boat lift was too far from the shore, requiring a tremendous amount of wheel cranking to get it into or out of the water. I finally decided I’d had enough of my family’s rickety death marina.

A neighbor was asked to come over with his ATV which has a powerful winch on the front of it. I grabbed a mask, snorkel and long metal pipe for leverage, jumped into the lake and attached the cable to the frame of the lift. With some difficulty, and several dives down to clear away rocks, we managed to maneuver the lift closer to the shore and lined up perfectly with the dock. After the repositioning I discovered in no uncertain terms that my lung capacity is not what it used to be as I dove down to the bottom multiple times to rearrange rocks, stabilize and level the four lift posts.

Once the lift was squared away, I went back underwater and swam into the dark area underneath the dock before jamming a nice big, flat rock under the leg that tended to dip. While I was down there, I gathered up some bottle caps, a thermometer and an old boat bumper that had been resting in peace for gosh knows how long. After that, I dried off by screwing some extra rubber trim onto a bare section of dock edge and relocating a cleat that had been in an inconvenient spot. So now when we moor the boat without putting it into the lift the cleats are perfectly lined up with the bow and stern lines. Listen to me, eh? Pretty soon I’ll have a parrot perched on my shoulder.

The most amazing thing about the whole procedure were the staggering number of fish who turned out to watch/lend their support. Everytime I came up for air and then dove back down to where I’d just been 15 seconds or so before, there’d be a group of curious fish hovering around the spot where I’d just been meddling with their world. Big fish, little fish swimming in the water (this is beginning to sound like a PJ Harvey song)… perch, bass, sunfish – they were fearless and it’s a sight I’ll be returning to soon, possibly with additional masked intruders.

Sully and Jim – y’all need to get up here this summer because the fishin’ must be exceptional. Call me the dock doc.

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