Ringing in the New Year with Sweeney Todd

Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year. I definitely had a great year, and I'll be ringing 2008 in low-key, since that seemed to work for me last year. Looking forward to a brand new year full of happiness and (hopefully) prosperity. Wishing the same for everyone else as well.


Got to catch the newest Johnny Depp/Tim Burton flick this weekend - Sweeney Todd, and it is a gory one! Most of the singing talent was impressive, Depp included. Probably the least experienced was Helena Bonham-Carter, but she pulled off an Eliza Doolittle-like sound that actually worked for her character. Sacha Baron-Cohen made a splashy appearance in an otherwise dreary scenario, and his character also goes out with a bang (or should I say, spray?). Definitely NOT a movie to take the kids to - it is gross, violent, and did I mention gross? Once Todd has his routine down of disposing of his victims, it is stomach-wrenching to watch them hit the floor. The young boy is quite good in his part, and Alan Rickman is great as always. Depp seems a little stiff at times, but his sullen expressions are chilling when he is with his victims, and hilarious during Carter's character's fantasy song. He seems to be using the same accent as his Captain Sparrow character at times, though. All in all, it was a good movie, as long as you have the stomach for it!

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas and has a safe and happy New Year!

Geez, I didn't see this coming...

Pamela Anderson files for divorce after two months

And the idiocy continues...

Pam and Rick are back on!

(This is all in the same day, people).

Finally saw the Toadies...

After my last final of the semester last night, I joined a group at Hard Rock Cafe for some drinks and appetizers before the Toadies concert at Verizon Theater. Our waiter was very nice, but it does seem like they purposefully hire people who look like they are in a band to wait tables there, and whomever the bartender was - he was awful. The drinks were poorly mixed, took forever (the food came out before the drinks did) and one of them came out in a glass so cracked we were afraid it would shatter at the table.

As for the show, I was glad to have the opportunity to see them live, since I missed them prior to their break-up, and also the farewell tour earlier this year. They do play a very good live show, and the fans were eating it up. Lots of moshing, lots of crowd-surfing; some songs incited some lighter-waving, and LOTS of people were singing along. It was good to see the fan appreciation - hopefully it will encourage them to work together again in the future. Anyway - a really good show, but it seemed like the two brief encores were a little forced. I would go see them again - if they manage to get back together.

Dane Cook at Toyota Center

Had some very good seats to the Dane Cook show at the Toyota Center on Friday night - 17th row on the floor! I had no idea his following was so pronounced, and it was my first time to hear his live act. A few problems I had - the tickets said 7:00 pm, and he didn't take the stage until about 7:45. Although there were a lot of people still trickling in, it would have been nice to have at least an opening act to entertain us if he didn't plan to come on stage until almost an hour after we'd been sitting there. Also, does every venue absolutely have to scalp you on everything? I had already shelled out a pretty penny to be there, and the Toyota Center has the gall to charge $7.00 for a lousy Miller Lite? I so enjoy taking it up the rear from corporations...

As for the act - it was very good. I like his storytelling style, and he has a really honest perspective of the inner workings of the pseudo-adolescent male mind. It is really good insight on what your boyfriend/sig. other is thinking about at any given time. Although I did hear from several people there that he used some old material, he apparently had a lot of new also, and combined his best stuff for about a 1 1/2 hour set (encore included).

After the show we dropped by my friend Matt's for his yearly Christmas party and drank some really good beer. Now if I can just finish my Christmas shopping...

Caught a couple of new flicks this weekend. On Friday we took in a fabulous steak dinner at Texas Land & Cattle, and then headed over to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema to watch American Gangster with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Although the movie was very good, we made the mistake of going to the late show, and this film is LONG. We were falling asleep by the end of it, and didn't leave the theater until after 1:00 am. It seems they tried to make it a little of everything: cop movie, action movie, drama, love story, etc. It ends up feeling a little like overkill by the end, and you end up just waiting for it to end. It also didn't help that the movie cut off twice and we had to wait for them to turn it back on, but we did get free movie passes out of the situation.

While there, we discovered they were showing a sneak peek of The Golden Compass the following night, so we decided to come back. This time we ate in the movie, and it was yummy. Watching this film reminded me of Stardust, Narnia and Eragon. It seems like they are searching for the next Harry Potter with this new crop of fantasy movies derived from popular children's novels. It also doesn't help that it is being touted as an athiest movie because of the author's beliefs. Children are smarter than we give them credit for, and if you attach your agendas to something to try to make them swallow it, they will resent you for it. That being said, and looking at the movie in a strictly objective way, it fell short for me. The girl was very good in her role, and the scenery was fantastic, but sometimes the CG animals were way too CG, and they could have made the story feel more complete rather than preparing you for the inevitable trilogy that MUST follow any moderately successful movie nowadays. Frankly, it makes me as weary to wait for the next installment as it did to watch the end of Eragon.