Everything in Between

A nice, unexpected surprise on a Monday: new Pearl Jam! This showed up out of the blue today; leaked from an “internal promo disc” used during the production of the band’s rarities album, Lost Dogs (2003). So it’s not “new,” necessarily, but the public-at-large hasn’t heard it ’til today, so that’s enough of a qualifier to call it as such.

Here’s the full tracklist, most of which is already available in stores (and is thus not presented in audio form below):

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Coming Soon…

Just in case you thought I was laying around doing nothing, there are scads of updates coming soon.

March of the Penguins (DVD) | A, The Sentinel | C, Apocalypto | A-, Once Upon a Time in the West | A, Hannibal Rising | C+, For Your Consideration | C, Never turn your back on one…, Breach | B+, Sawyer’s Unique Vocabulary, Letters From Iwo Jima | B+, Flags of our Fathers | C+, Syriana | A, Ocean’s 13 | B+, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | B-, Things I No Longer Want to See…, Virginia 2007 Trip Report, Reviewpalooza, The Illusionist | B-, Children of Men | A, work history, Quicksand/A Kiss to Send Us Off, The Top Five Pies of All-Time, My Top Five TV Shows of 2006, My Top Five Albums of 2006, My Top Five Movies of 2006, My Top Five Songs of 2006, The Kids Don’t Get It, A History of Violence | B-, Hellboy | B, Constantine | B-, The Aristocrats | B, Quotable Ramblings

Stay tuned. Here’s a sweet picture to tide you over:

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix | A

director: David Yates
starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton

With the release of the final Harry Potter book coming at the end of next week, there’s a strange sense that we’re about to lose something great–that the last book will leave us wanting more, even though it will likely end on the perfect note if author J.K. Rowling’s track record has anything to say about it. The books have been so good, and so voraciously consumed by their readers, that it’s going to leave a large void to fill after reading the final page of the seventh book. Well, fret not, because we’ve still got three more Harry Potter flicks to go, which thus far have provided just as much enjoyment as the books, and the fifth entry in the film version of the mega-franchise is no exception.

Order of the Phoenix continues the progression of the franchise into a more “adult” world, which makes sense when you figure the young audiences that saw the first film are growing right along with Harry and the actors who play the beloved characters. The three primaries (Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint) all appear very comfortable in their roles, and the chemistry between them helps immeasurably in conveying a convincing picture of three best friends willing to do anything for one another.

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5 Ways the Sabres Can Win Me Back

Right now, I’m disgusted, as is a large portion of the hockey fan base in Western New York. I’m sure I’ll slowly begin to get over it once the season starts and a sure-to-be-good team takes the ice. But, this team’s management isn’t going anywhere, and after the series of blunders they’ve made, their presence doesn’t bode well for the future. In any event, they can go a long way toward sating my unquenchable thirst for vengeance (which would be in the form of egging Larry Quinn’s car and letting wild chimps loose in his house) with the following five steps:

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Transformers | B+

director: Michael Bay
starring: Peter Cullen, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Jon Voight, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson

I’m still not sure what to make of Michael Bay. He’s either a brilliant, tour-de-force film auteur, or a child all jacked up on Mountain Dew and drugs with the attention span of a screech monkey. He’s made a few decent films, but nothing that screams intelligence or subtlety or “good story.” Most of the time, his flicks have the feel of a music video playing at hyperspeed. Either way, his films are some of the most visually striking in the history of the medium, and Transformers is certainly no exception. In fact, it may even be his best film to date, as a focus on action is exactly what a movie based on a kid’s cartoon, comic book and toy line should probably have. Thus, don’t expect heaps of thought-provoking character development and exposition in the 2:23 running time.

If you’re not familiar with the aforementioned toy line, cartoon and comic book, The Transformers was a television series that aired started in 1984, depicting a war between giant robots who could transform into vehicles, animals, and other objects. In actuality, the show was also meant as a promotional vehicle for the wildly popular toy line, of which I was a large fan in my formative years. I remember very much enjoying transforming cars and planes into giant robots…at least until they eventually broke–and they all did eventually break. There are drawers and boxes across America filled with Transformer heads and hands and guns that have broken off.

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Empty Words

Today’s contentious press conference at HSBC Arena with GM Darcy Regier and president Larry “I’m an Assface” Quinn.

[audio:press_conference.mp3]

(click here if the audio above isn’t working)

Buffalo News writer Bucky Gleason speaks for most of us, I think.

Black Sunday

The Sabres’ 2006-07 campaign ended on May 19th, losing in overtime to the Ottawa Senators, and losing in 5 games after a lackluster effort by a team that was favored to win it all. That was a dark, dark day for Sabre fans, one of the worst in Buffalo sports history. This town’s had a few in its past. Well, add July 1st, 2007 to that infamous list of Buffalo sports tragedy. Chris Drury and Daniel Briere, the team’s two captains–the two players that served as the faces of the franchise for the last several years–were both lost in free agency to teams looking to make a splash and take advantage of the newly-raised, $50.3 million salary cap.

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