Fatboy Slim juggling video!

New Fatboy Slim video for his upcoming greatest hits comp...and the video is pretty f'ing sweet.


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Over the Hedge Review

Over the Hedge is DreamWorks' first really good post-Shrek CGI film, mainly because it has a solid concept that continues the tradition the film company started with their initial animated features The Prince of Egypt and Road to El Dorado and that tradition is "Don't be like Disney!"

While the Wal-Mart ads and Burger King toys may say otherwise, Over the Hedge is a clever indictment of consumerism that manages to skillfully lampoon all aspects of modern living while keeping the humor fast-paced and kid-friendly, something even Shrek fell short of sometimes. Like its predecessor, the somewhat forgettable Madagascar, the film gets its message across in less than one hour and twenty minutes, saying what it needs to say and entertaining non-stop with no flak whatsoever, not even a subplot! In the case of Over the Hedge, that's a good thing.

If you are unaware of the film's rapid-fire storyline, I'll fill you in. A mischievous raccoon has inadvertently destroyed a hibernating bear's snack food supply. He's got a week to replenish the stash or the bear will be having him for dinner instead. The solution? Befriend a bunch of simple-minded woodland creatures, show them the bountiful feast that is suburban garbage, and get them to steal the snacks!

Like Shrek (and every CGI DreamWorks film that followed it), Over the Hedge relies heavily on celebrity voices, only this time the casting decisions feel truly inspired, from Steve Carell's turn as the hyperactive squirrel Hammy (pictured above), to Garry Shandling's neurotic turtle Verne. SCTV alumni Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara voice a pair of "Minnesota Nice" porcupines, while William Shatner and Avril Lavigne play a father-daughter pair of possums. It doesn't stop there, as the cast list also includes Wanda Sykes, Thomas Haden Church, and Nick Nolte. Even Bruce Willis turns in an excellent performance as the raccoon RJ, despite his replacement status on the film (Jim Carrey was the filmmakers' first choice).

The film fully embraces the cartoonish potential of CGI, and at no point tries to go for realism like the recent Disney flop The Wild. I agree with the Charlotte Observer that the film conjures up the spirit of Chuck Jones, especially in a truly madcap sequence involving a wagonload of snacks, a garden hose, and a lit can of propane. What happens I will leave for you to discover, but the stunt reaches levels previously attained only by Wile E. Coyote.

The film was co-directed by Tim Johnson, the director of DreamWorks' first foray into CGI, Antz, and Karey Kirkpatrick, who makes his directorial debut after being given the thankless task of finishing the screenplay to last year's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, after Douglas Adams' unfortunate passing. He did, however, write the script for The Rescuers Down Under, so props for that!

Finally, the film's most surprising facet comes in the form of a handful of wonderful original songs by Ben Folds, one of my favorite musicians and an untapped resource as far as movie soundtracks are concerned. He's an artist that truly cares about the quality of his music, whether it be a selection from a fans-only EP or a track off the Godzilla soundtrack. There's no such thing as a "throwaway song" when it comes to Folds. Case in point is Over the Hedge's opening song "Family of Me," which lasts all of one-and-a-half minutes, but could arguably be one of Folds' catchiest melodies.


The film won't be winning an Oscar for Best Animated Feature anytime soon, but it is a welcome effort from a studio that has been standing in the shadow of Mike Myers' churlish ogre for a little too long.

A new look for Criterion

The Criterion Collection has changed their logo, as well as their entire website, and so far, I'm not liking the new look:



While the new, simplistic logo will allow for more space on the DVD cover for the awesome artwork Criterion is well-known for, the old logo made it so easy to tell what was a Criterion Collection DVD, sort of like a "Mark of Quality." Film buffs everywhere recognized it. But now it looks like they're just aping other DVD company logos.

For further proof, check the cover for the upcoming release Equinox (with the old logo) and the cover for Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming (with the new logo). I just think it looks too cluttered, that's all.

I guess I shouldn't be complaining as long as the content stays the same. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Jacques Tati box set they keep hinting at in their monthly e-mail newsletters.

At least a neat Flash intro came out of all of this.

What Could Revive DiMattiaFilms? Free Music, Perhaps?

Yes, I have awakened from my week-long sabbatical to bring you two very cool, very free, full-length albums:

The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers - Psalterie

The rarely-heard debut album by Perry Wright and his musical minstrels has now been made available for download by his record label. Jam out to some great Prayers and Tears, all without spending a penny!

Power Craig - Field Recordings of Terrified and Delusional Nose-Pickers and Nail-Biters

Free and brief (only about 21 minutes), Field Recordings delivers sorrowful and often unusual folk rock, sprinkled with a trio of instrumental acoustic guitar tracks and the occasional noise-rock freakout ("Illinois Tomatoes"). Thanks to My Mean Magpie for making this available.

Also, has anyone else heard about Thom Yorke's solo album? Awesome.

We'll be right back!

I am utterly amazed to announce that my last day of my sophomore year at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington was today! This morning at 10 AM, to be exact.

So, my summer vacation has started as of NOW and I am back home, unpacked, and ready to do all the things I wanted to do but...um...*yawn*...zzz...

Oh! Sorry. Nodded off there. Well, I just wanted to say that DiMattiaFilms will be going on a brief hiatus for the next couple days while I try looking for a summer job. (By the way, if anyone knows of any openings in Greensboro, NC, send me the info!) I'll try to return to blogging sometime next week.

In the meantime, enjoy these highlights of the last few weeks:

• The Oozinator!
  
• American Express Ad by Wes Anderson!
  
• Gnarls Barkley Performs "Crazy" Live on Top of the Pops!
  
• Free Indie Music for Children!
  
• Free Indie Music for Everyone Else!

See y'all next week!
Devin

New Strokes B-Side

While First Impressions of Earth definitely wasn't The Strokes' best album, it had its share of great songs, namely the leadoff track "You Only Live Once." Now, on their new single for "Heart in a Cage," the band included a new b-side, entitled "I'll Try Anything Once," which is, essentially, a radically altered demo version of "You Only Live Once." Stripped down to just Julian's vocals and an elaborate synthesizer arrangement, the song sounds a lot more delicate and somber than its rocking album version. Thankfully, The Strokes are offering the track for free off their official website. Enjoy!

The Strokes - I'll Try Anything Once.mp3 (Link Removed)

The Last Word in Zombie Indie Rock

I was listening to the new episode of No Love for Ned and I came across this awesome song by Sprites paying homage to some of the greats behind zombie horror:

Sprites - George Romero.mp3

After a couple listens, you'll never get that chorus out of your head. Guaranteed.

And if you get a chance, listen to the new episode of No Love for Ned (RealPlayer required). There's a slew of great obscure indie songs, plus an in-studio performance by Half-Handed Cloud.

Also, just so you know, my short films Dollars Don't Discriminate and T.P. are now available for streaming on YouTube!

Ever wish SuperSoaker would make a water gun that simulates masturbation? Well...

As always, Mike and Chad from Yewknee are on top of things with this slightly disturbing new toy from Hasbro.

It's called the Oozinator, and in addition to firing jets of water, it also fires "globs of gooey bio-ooze!" And if you didn't think that was creepy enough, just take a look at the commercial:



Why not just call it the Super Jizzinator? I mean, look at the damn thing. If the alien in Alien had a penis, that's what it would look like.

Warning: Major pumping required.

Areas of His Expertise

One of my favorite comedians out there right now is the ever-hilarious John Hodgman, and lately, it seems like he's all over the place. He released a book last year, The Areas of My Expertise, became The Daily Show's resident expert, collaborated with They Might Be Giants on their Venue Songs DVD, and now he's appeared in a handful of new Apple commercials with actor Justin Long (the nerdy kid from Dodgeball). I'd like to provide an excerpt from the introduction to his book, just to give my readers a taste of his patent-pending style of humor:

   "I say 'good evening,' though of course I don't know what time it is where you are. This is one of the defining sorrows of books: that we cannot see one another.
   Of course it might have been different had my Publisher inserted the camera I invented to fit snugly in the spine of this book and spy on you. But this was determined to be 'too expensive' and 'too illegal' and so we are left once again to our imaginations."

For more Hodgman, check out his blog or browse these video clips:

• Apple ad: "Restarting"
  
• Apple ad: "Network"
  
• Daily Show segment: "Countering the Iraqi Insurgency"
  
• They Might Be Giants promo: "Venue Songs"

Napster debuts Gnarls Barkley album!

I guess Napster realized they weren't making any money with this subscription thing, 'cause they decided to revamp their website to look more like the iTunes Music Store, only now, they also offer free streaming of all the songs in their library. The catch is that you can listen to every song only five times each.

So, that gives each and every one of you the ability to stream the highly-anticipated debut by Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere, five times. So make 'em count!

PREVIOUSLY: Gnarls goes crazy on Top of the Pops.

Why eMusic is Awesome

While everybody else blogs about Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner, I decided to finally take advantage of eMusic's free fifty song download trial offer. And it worked like a peach!

The only thing I should mention is that, for some reason, eMusic's site alternates between fifty and twenty-five free downloads, depending on which browser you use (with Safari, I got 25; but with Firefox, I got 50). Anyway, it's ridiculously simple. Just fill out the forms, give 'em a credit card number, and then quickly download your free fifty songs. After that, all you gotta do is cancel your subscription, and you get to keep your fifty songs, free of charge. Couldn't be easier!

Here's what I ended up downloading with my free trial:

Cat Power, The Greatest
Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Iron & Wine/Calexico, In the Reins
Destroyer, Destroyer's Rubies
Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy

"Misplaced" New Short Film!

Last weekend was the One-Take Film Festival, and Nuclear Space Zombie was there to make another wonderful short film! The lineup has changed a bit (I was the only original member of NSZ), but I think our finished film turned out pretty good. Take a look... (approx. 8 min.)

Shout-Out to Stereogum!

When I got my latest issue of Spin Magazine this afternoon, the first thing I noticed was the promise of a Kevin Federline interview on the front cover. OH GOODY! So, I decided to e-mail Stereogum to complain about Spin's new-found pandering to readers of celebrity gossip.

And guess what? They made a post about it.

Now, they did do a bit of editing to my e-mail, so I'll post it here in its entirely (for all you Stereogum completists out there):

From: Devin DiMattia
Subject: The Downfall of Spin
Date: April 25, 2006 12:00:30 PM EDT
To: info@stereogum.com

So, I don't know if you guys have seen the new issue of Spin Magazine, but they are definitely trying to pander to the crowd that reads shit like InTouch and Us Weekly by revamping their front cover to look like celeb gossip mags. Take a look:



Also, please notice the article on the left of the Spin cover that reads "'I Didn't Pimp Britney' Kevin Federline Speaks Out" Are they fucking serious?? Who reads Spin Magazine that would possibly give a shit? I swear, if it wasn't for the interviews with The Streets, The Flaming Lips, and Weezer in this issue (which, I should mention, are nowhere to be found on the cover), I would've cancelled my subscription pronto.

Devin DiMattia

I was hoping that they would've included a link to my blog, 'cause then I would've been able to say "DiMattiaFilms: As Linked To By Stereogum," but sadly, no dice. Ah well.

1 Cliche Down, 999,999 to Go

After viewing the latest episode of Lost, screenwriter John August (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) has just condemned the use of air ducts as an escape route for protagonists in all forms of entertainment, be it movies, television, or...well, I guess just those two. I'd join in, but I haven't had time to write any screenplays, much less include air ducts in them. This does remind me, however, of a similar cliché as described by Dona Knight in Roger Ebert's Bigger Little Movie Glossary:

• Air Vent Escape Route. If the hero is imprisoned in a building owned by the villains, there will inevitably be an air vent cover that is not screwed in and is easily removed. The passageway will be large enough toaccommodatee any size person. The escape route will pass over the room where the bad guys are discussing the details of their diabolical plan, which the hero will now be able to foil.

What's your favorite movie that makes prominent use of the air duct escape route? Or just your favorite movie that has air ducts in them? I can't help but think of that great scene in Alien where Dallas is searching for the alien in all the air ducts of the ship, turns around, and BOOGA-BOOGA!!

Anderson AMEX Ad now on YouTube!

Thanks to my friend Alan Varner for sending me the link!

V-Dub in the House

I just found out last week that my screenwriting professor is related to actor Peter Stormare, and I asked him what was up with those hilarious Volkswagen commercials he's been doing? He told me that Stormare probably just did 'em for the money, but I still think they're funny as hell.

The Case Against Kanye

So, I was quite unimpressed with Kanye West's performance at UNCW last Saturday. Not only did he spend roughly twenty minutes of his set playing 30-second samples of songs he produced, he stopped several songs halfway through because the camera or spotlight wasn't on him or some stupid crap like that.

I couldn't believe it. I mean, I knew he was an asshole, but I never would have guessed that he would act as arrogant and as egotistical as he did to PAYING FANS.

He also needs to seriously lose the "I'm so underappreciated" schtick. You're the number one artist in America! Stop whining that you didn't win enough Grammys, jerk! I swear, I actually liked Late Registration, enough to put it on my Honorable Mention list of 2005. Now, I doubt I'll ever buy another Kanye West album. Congratulations, man. You've done an excellent job alienating your audience. I would like my twenty-eight bucks back.

The next day, I went to the Soapbox in downtown to see The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers for just five dollars. And they were GREAT. Plus, I actually got to meet the lead singer afterwards and chat with him. I also got to see another great band, Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, before Prayers and Tears, and after their set, I ended up getting to sit next to the bassist and drummer of the band while Prayers and Tears did their set. This is the advantage of being an indie music fan. You actually get to hang out with the people who are making the music!! And at no point during either band's performance did they ask for the spotlight to be on them or the camera straightened ('cause there wasn't a camera).

Here's a track from both groups for you to enjoy:

The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, "Concerning Lessons Learned From the Aliens" (MP3)

Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, "My Only Enemy" (RealPlayer format, sorry)

Adding Album Art to your iTunes Library

This year, I embarked on the somewhat daunting task of adding album art to all the songs in my iTunes music library. Like most people, I used Amazon.com's database of album artwork as my source. But there are some albums, like Nina Simone's Anthology, where the artwork is ridiculously small, and it comes off very pixelated if you add it to iTunes.

Luckily, I stumbled across Josh's iTunes Album Art Grabber, which lets you search the database of high-quality album artwork directly from the iTunes Music Store! My only regret is that I wish I had found this website earlier. Now, I gotta replace all the crappy Amazon artwork I already added!

The Foam Monster That Ate Ellsworth Air Force Base

Click here for endless photographic entertainment!

Apparently, while testing the foam firefighting system at Ellsworth AFB, the mechanism that spits out the gallons and gallons of foam malfunctioned...and what happened is nothing short of mindblowing, and also funny as hell.

UPDATE: Pictures have been removed.

Crazy for Gnarls Barkley!

Gnarls Barkley, a soul group composed of vocalist Cee-Lo and DJ wunderkind Danger Mouse, have already exploded onto the airwaves in the UK. Their hit song "Crazy" became the first single ever to top the UK charts on the basis of download sales alone, while iTunes, in its infinite wisdom, has yet to put the single up for grabs on its U.S. store, prompting millions of soul-hungry Americans to download it illegally.

But, before you get yourself added to the RIAA's Most Wanted list, you can check out a couple of kick-awesome Gnarls goodies, free and legal. First, there's the new video for "Crazy," which can be streamed here. And when you're done with that, check out this hilarious live performance of "Crazy" from Top of the Pops!

UPDATE: Link removed.

Gnarls' full-length debut, St. Elsewhere, drops May 9!

Wes Anderson Takes AMEX

I finally got the chance to catch Thank You for Smoking last night (which, by the way, was a hilarious movie), and I saw a commercial preceding the movie that I found most amusing. Now, everyone here knows of my outright hatred for ads before movies, but I'm willing to make an exception for this one.

You know that American Express ad that M. Night Shyamalan did for the Super Bowl? With all the weird shit happening, but it turned out it was all in his head? (Oh, that M. Night! Always gotta have a twist!) Well, uber-awesome filmmaker Wes Anderson was tapped to do a similar ad, and the results are hilarious.

The ad also features Jason Schwartzman and Waris Ahluwalia, the Sikh dude from The Life Aquatic, filming a scene from Anderson's new "spy thriller" (complete with hilariously bad dialogue and random car explosions). Suddenly, the camera spins around to reveal Anderson who tries to deliver a monologue about the American Express card, but is constantly interrupted by pressing matters involving the film (my personal favorite was what type of gun to use).

It's a great ad, but so far, there's no sign of it on the Internet. Does anybody have a clip of this ad that they can upload to YouTube or Google Video?

Blog peer pressure is a dangerous thing...

So, I finally bit the bullet and added my "playlist" of music to the sidebar, which I've taken the liberty of calling my "Choice Cuts." These are albums I'm currently listening to either in my car, on my computer, or on my iPod (or, in the case of Picaresque, on my record player). Some are new releases, but some are albums from last year that I didn't get a chance to listen to until now. In anticipation of Zero 7's new album The Garden (which will hopefully see a May release date here in the States), I bought their last album, When it Falls, on iTunes for $9.90. Not a bad deal.

I also saw Ice Age: The Meltdown last night and, I gotta say, if it wasn't for the continuing adventures of Scrat and his attempts to snag an acorn, I would've hated the movie. I just didn't care about any of the characters this time around. I also think that this is the first time a children's film has made sex an integral part of the plot, and doesn't just use it as innuendo, a la Shrek. Granted, the film does have a generous amount of sexual innuendo, but when there's nothing on the surface of the story to disguise it, is it really innuendo anymore? I'm talking specifically of the relationship between Manny the Mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano) and Ellie (voiced by Queen Latifah), a mammoth who thinks she's a possum. When Latifah was interviewed on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart showed a brief clip from the film and it was blatantly obvious to me that the film (or at least that scene in particular) was not trying to appeal to kids. No wonder computer animated films are in decline; they've lost their target audience.

If you'd like to see what Blue Sky Studios, the company that made the Ice Age films, made before they got picked up by 20th Century Fox, check out Bunny, which won the 1998 Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Fun Fact: Chris Wedge, the writer and director of Bunny, provides the voice of Scrat.

It's been a while, I know (aka The Free Music Bribery Post)

So, it's been, like, over a week since I posted anything on this site...and I apologize. Like the title of the post says, I want to post some kick-awesome music to make up for it. A lot of great albums have come out in the last two weeks and I was too busy soaking in their utter brilliance and majesty to be bothered writing anything in my blog. I've already been singing praises about The Flaming Lips and their new disc, At War With the Mystics, but I can't stress this enough: the album is great, better than Yoshimi and just a hair under the utter awesomeness that is 1999's The Soft Bulletin (which has also been re-released in 5.1 surround sound!) And while hits like "Mr. Ambulance Driver," "The W.A.N.D," and "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" are all utterly amazing, I have really fallen in love with this one song, "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion." So pretty, so psychedelic, so Flaming Lips-ish. It could almost be seen as a sequel to Yoshimi's track "It's Summertime (Throbbing Orange Pallbearers)". Naturally, the Lips give "Autumn" its own subtitle, which reads "The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defiance and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action." You'll just have to listen to it yourself.

The Flaming Lips - "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion"
from At War With the Mystics

Also worth mentioning are the new releases from two of my favorite alt-rockers, Josh Rouse and Sondre Lerche. While Rouse takes his already brilliant brand of pop-folk into Spanish territory with his album Subtítulo, Lerche defies all expectations and delivers Duper Sessions, a surprisingly solid jazz album. Here are a couple highlights from both:

Josh Rouse - "Givin' it Up"
from Subtítulo

Sondre Lerche - "(I Wanna) Call It Love"
from Duper Sessions

And finally, the Tuesday before last marked the debut release from Band of Horses, the beautiful and utterly anthemic Everything All the Time. If you plan on buying this album, I strongly recommend that you actually purchase the physical CD, not buy it off iTunes or anything. I will admit, I am a sucker for cool CD packaging, and Everything All the Time does not upset. The liner notes fold out to reveal three color prints of photographs by Christopher Wilson. The three I got were of a telephone pole, a hand waving at an airplane passing by, and an antique-looking living room, which leads me to the question: Does everyone get the same three photos when they buy this album or do they change from copy to copy? Someone please provide me with the answer! In the meantime, here's one of my favorite new songs off the record:

Band of Horses - "Weed Party"
from Everything All the Time

Alright, I hope that more than made up for my absence. I promise it won't ever happen again...until it does.

Daft Punk to Release Greatest Hits Album

After the failure of 2005's Human After All, an album I labeled one of the most disappointing of the year, Daft Punk will be releasing Musique 1: 1993-2005, a greatest hits compilation, which will include hits from their last three albums, as well as bonus remixes and, in a special edition package, a DVD featuring all of the videos, plus a couple never-before-seen ones.

On a personal note, I absolutely despise best-of comps that get put out after an artist's first two-or-three albums. It is such an obvious marketing ploy, designed to squeeze as much money as they can out of the consumer. Up until now, the main offenders have been people like Hilary Duff and Aaron Carter, people who don't even deserve to be called musicians. But Daft Punk?! C'mon!! I thought you guys had some class. I know Human After All was a misstep, but that doesn't mean you have to rush-release a best-of and then call it a day. That's not the Daft Punk I know.

The only reason I would be interested in buying this is for the bonus remixes and DVD, and I already have most of their videos, thanks to the Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze retrospective DVDs. As for the songs that made it onto this "greatest hits," it's got the obvious entries ("Da Funk," "One More Time," and "Robot Rock") but where are "Aerodynamic" and "Digital Love," two of my favorite songs off their second album, Discovery? They were singles, they had videos...what the f*ck?

This is What DiMattiaFilms Actually Believes

Even after ten years of gross-out humor and biting satire, South Park's still got it. Recently, two of their episodes have come under fire from two different religious organizations (or, in my opinion, one religious organization and one crock of sh*t): the Catholic church for the episode "Bloody Mary" and Scientologists for "Trapped in the Closet." Both episodes have been banned indefinitely, though it's pretty easy to pick up either of them on BitTorrent (don't tell the FCC).

But creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have not backed down. In fact, they upped the ante when they debuted their tenth season premiere episode "The Return of Chef!" even though Issac Hayes, who provides Chef's voice, left the show, citing its religious intolerance (probably because of the fact that he's a Scientologist). So, instead of giving someone else the task of doing Chef's voice, Parker and Stone simply re-cut Hayes' voice from past episodes and edited the snippets together into new dialogue.

It didn't stop there. In the episode, Chef returns to South Park only for the kids to find out that he's been brainwashed into becoming a child molester after joining the Super Adventure Club, an obvious reference to Scientology. After Chef dies an utterly gruesome, albeit hilarious death, Kyle remarks at his funeral,

"We can't let the events of the last week take away the memories of how Chef made us smile.... So, you see, we shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us. We should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains."

Feel free to interpret that dialogue however you see fit.

For more on the continuing South Park controversy (jokingly referred to as "Chefgate"), read the Scanners blog, written by the editor for Roger Ebert's website, Jim Emerson.

IN OTHER NEWS: This Sunday's episode of the Simpsons will have the show's first-ever live action opening sequence. That's right; everything that happens in the traditional Simpsons opening will be done by real-life people! Read the story here.

Music makes the world go round!

First off, I have no clue why Blogger has been acting so weird these last couple of days. I've tried republishing my blog, but to no avail. I hope after this post, things start to get back down to normal. Sorry for the inconvenience...

Anyway, moving on!

The new Flaming Lips album, At War with the Mystics, can now be streamed in its entirety at NME.com. I'm currently listening to the first track off it, "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" and already, it sounds like a side of the Lips I have never heard before...and would very much like to hear more of!

ALSO! Everything All the Time, the debut album by one of my favorite new bands, Band of Horses, gets released this Tuesday! Here's an MP3, "The Funeral". Another new album that arrives on the 21st is Josh Rouse's Spanish-tinged Subtitulo. Sorry, no free MP3s, but you can stream a couple tracks off his Myspace page.

Anyone know of any other albums that are coming out soon?

V for Vendetta, S for Shitty Sequels

Just got back from seeing V for Vendetta. I really liked it, though the jury is still out on what exactly it means, which is saying something since most Hollywood-made movies these days want nothing more than to shove a totally obvious plot device down your throats.

Case in point: the retarded trailers I was subjected to before the film. I've now gotten into the habit of arriving to movies five minutes late, so as not to have to sit through commercials, as I have already expressed my disdain for them. But these trailers for, among others, X3, Poseidon, and Take the Lead, the only non-sequel/remake in the bunch, but still just as contrived. If I see another film about a renegade teacher who takes a ragtag group of kids under his/her wing and BOOM! They become brilliant dancers/athletes/musicians...well, I'm not gonna see any of those movies anymore, so it's a moot point.

The worst offender, however, was the god-awful trailer (and inevitably god-awful movie) for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Don't bother asking me why on earth someone would want to make a third Fast and the Furious movie, but looking at director Justin Lin's previous credits (which include the recent release Annapolis, which received an 11% from Rotten Tomatoes), it's not like he could do any worse.

With that being said, here are five upcoming films that actually look like they're worth the admission cost:

Thank You for Smoking: After being released in select cities today, this comedy starring Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, William H. Macy, Rob Lowe, J.K. Simmons and Robert Duvall will hopefully be receiving a wide release, especially once crap like Failure to Launch and The Shaggy Dog go away.

Inside Man: The new film from Spike Lee shies away from his usual topics and turns, instead, towards a bank robbery involving Clive Owen, Denzel Washington, and Jodie Foster. I'm trying to avoid any TV ads for the film, as I've heard they give away too much of the plot in them (damn marketing execs!)

Lonesome Jim: Steve Buscemi takes up the director's chair in this quirky comedy starring Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler.

Awesome: I Fuckin' Shot That!: This concert film starring the Beastie Boys was filmed mostly by fans who were handed camcorders before the show and asked to film during its entirety.

American Dreamz: Everything in American pop culture and politics is hit with biting satire in this film from the director of About a Boy and featuring an all-star cast including Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, and Willem Dafoe.

Also, the movie I am most looking forward to this summer is none other than Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, which will hopefully be seeing a release on June 9. It is one of my favorite radio shows (actually, it's my only favorite radio show) and Altman is one of my favorite directors. Let's hope this partnership bears fruit.

Jump Cut finally dies...

Well, it took them several months longer than it said they would, but Libsyn finally terminated Jump Cut Radio, and all episodes therein. So, if you didn't get a chance to listen to 'em, I have all the episodes on back order (i.e. on my computer), so if you want a couple, e-mail me and I'll see what I can do.

So far, no new podcasts are in the works, but I am looking into DJing for a college radio station in Greensboro this summer! Maybe I'll work out a new music podcast this summer, too...

ALSO!! In case you haven't noticed, new photos from my recent Spring Break trip to L.A. have been added to Flickr! Check 'em out and leave some comments, por favor!

Customer Reviews for Dummies

Sorry, I just have to get this off my chest.

A habit I've started noticing on the iTunes Music Store is the habit of referencing previous reviews when someone is posting their own review for a song/album/audiobook/film/whatever on the site. This, my friends, is a practice that must be stopped. I mean, seriously, do people not realize how stupid they sound when they write "The anonymous reviewer before me has no idea what they're talking about"? Let's hear what you have to say, okay, buddy? This is a review, not a message board.

I would also like to point out the following review by "dr. trey" of the new album by Matisyahu, Youth:

"EVRYONE [sic] SHOULD BUY IT...This is even better than live at stubb's.. after you buy it you will know what im talking about"

Um...what are you talking about? The whole point of customer reviews is that you will explain to us what makes said album so good/bad so THEN we will buy it! What I really can't understand is that, according to iTunes, "15 out of 18 listeners found this review helpful."

I guess you could say I'm doing the same thing, posting a review of reviews on my blog (which is, essentially, a personal site where individuals post reviews of stuff), but I'd like to think I'm more articulate than most. All I'm asking is that people treat customer reviews with the same respect that professional reviewers treat their own content. Don't say "THIS ALBUM SUXX!!" and leave it at that. Explain what you don't like about the album. Give any biases you may have against said album (for example, I would probably give a Kenny Chesney album a bad review, but it would be bias because I don't like country music in the first place). As always, don't shove your opinion down the reader's throats. Be courteous, like you're talking to someone you're just meeting for the first time.

Here's a final compare/contrast. First, we have a review from "Route66" in regards to the band Field Music and their self-titled debut:

"This cd has potential and should be downloaded by many but we'll just have to wait and see."

Now, click here to read a different review for the same album by one of my favorite podcasters, Funtime Ben.

Can you tell the difference? I hope so.

Flaming Lips Artwork Revealed!

Click on the image for a closer look.

I'm very excited about the new album from The Flaming Lips, entitled At War With the Mystics, and if this kickass George Salisbury-drawn cover is any indication, it should be a captivating affair. I already picked up the just-released single for The W.A.N.D., which comes with two very interesting b-sides.

Of course, both "The W.A.N.D." and another track, "Mr. Ambulance Driver" can be purchased online at the iTunes Music Store.

An Olympian's iTunes Playlist

North Carolina native, Olympic speed skater/music enthusiast Joey Cheek has his own celebrity playlist on the iTunes Music Store and it is very impressive. Anyone who likes Andrew Bird, Death Cab for Cutie, and Elliott Smith is alright in my book!

On the eels Live Album

I've never been all that big a fan of live albums, especially ones that release a DVD of the performance at the same time. The main reason I dislike them is that in typical marketing fashion, certain songs are relegated to the DVD exclusively, leading me to ask "Why not just put the whole performance on the CD? People aren't going to get the DVD because of the extra songs. They'll get it so they can watch the band perform as well as listen to it!" Coldplay had the right idea releasing Live 2003 as a CD/DVD combo, but they still stifled the CD release by hacking several songs off of it.

This leads me to the new live album by eels, a band whose excellent double album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations made my top ten list of 2005. The live album, entitled With Strings: Live at Town Hall, collects several tracks from that release, as well as a grab bag of songs from past albums like Beautiful Freak and Daisies of the Galaxy. Bandleader Mark Oliver Everett ("E") also tackles an intriguing trio of covers, from Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" to Johnny Rivers' "Poor Side of Town," my pick for the best track on this album.

What's most impressive about this live album is that, despite the missing eight songs from the performance, it is masterfully recorded and edited together. Audio mixer Douglas Trantow should be applauded for making such an intimate recording of E's performance, as well as the performances by a pair of multi-instrumentalists and a very talented string quartet, that at some points, it almost feels like you're listening to a studio album.

Naturally, it wasn't until I purchased a physical copy of the album that I discovered the iTunes Music Store offering it for ten bucks, with three bonus tracks. Dontcha hate when that happens?

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

The latest news from the Associated Press:


Wow. Looks like Kanye West was right.

See the article here.

R.I.P. Don Knotts

Barney Fife has passed away, and the world is surely a sadder place without him.

UPDATE: And now the dad from A Christmas Story died? What is this world coming to?!

The Case Against Theater Ads

Roger Ebert's latest Movie Answer Man column addresses an important issue that has been pissing off the moviegoers of America for several years running and that is the idiotic inclusion of television commercials at the start of most theatrical films.

I'm not an expert on these things, but if you're paying upwards of $7 to see a movie, the last thing you want to see are big-screen versions of ads hawking Coca-Cola, American Express, and last (but stupidest) the Marines. Who in their right mind is going to report to a recruitment office and say "Yeah, I saw your Marines ad before Final Destination 3 and I thought, 'That's for me!!'"

So, I have devised a simple hypothesis: Maybe the reason theaters haven't cut down or eliminated ads before movies is that people aren't being vocal enough about it. So, the next time you're at a movie theater, snag a couple comment cards (or give one to each member of your party) and fill them out, noting in the comments field how much you are sick and tired of commercials when you go to the movies. Better yet, find a manager and let him or her know.

I'm going to try and see Woody Allen's new movie Match Point tonight. I'm going to keep track of how many ads I see before it and report back tomorrow on it. Later!

Trippy Video of the Day

Here's something to blow your mind on a Saturday night. Check out this medley of old 1980s ads for the Isuzu Gemini.



Keep in mind that NO CGI was involved in these commercials. The stunts you see on the screen are really being performed!

Thanks, Yewknee.

Twenty years...

Wow. Can't freakin' believe it. So now that I have left the realm of the teens and into twentyhood, I look forward to all that lies ahead. In this day and age, I feel like simply being alive and well for twenty years is something of an accomplishment. So, thank you everyone who has sent me good wishes and e-mails and cards and stuff! Your generosity has not gone unnoticed! Now that you're here, please partake of my birthday mixtape, download one of my short films, or better yet, send me an e-mail! Any of these things would be a great gift to me. Thank you all, and good night!

Devin DiMattia
Keepin' it real since 1986.

My Birthday's Tomorrow, But Here's a Gift for You!

Whee!!! To celebrate my upcoming 20th birthday, I've posted a new mixtape on YouSendIt, ready for your downloading pleasure!

CLICK HERE TO GET IT!!

I've put some of my favorite birthday songs, as well as tracks about youth and life and pretty much anything else I could think of. Here's the track list:

Devin's Birthday Mix
1. The Beatles, "Birthday"
2. The Soundtrack of Our Lives, "Bigtime"
3. Jamie Cullum, "These Are the Days"
4. Travis, "Happy"
5. Dave Matthews, "So Damn Lucky"
6. Coldplay, "Crests of Waves"
7. The Beatles, "Getting Better"
8. Robbie Williams feat. Frank Sinatra, "It Was a Very Good Year"
9. Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins feat. Ben Gibbard, M. Ward, and Conor Oberst, "Handle With Care"
10. The Smittens, "Party Time"
11. The New Pornographers, "Broken Beads"
12. Blue Man Group, "I Feel Love"
13. The Strokes, "The End Has No End"
14. Faces, "Ooh La La"
15. Andrew Bird, "The Happy Birthday Song"

Bonus Track: Frank Sinatra, "Young at Heart"

Oh, and also, since I'm utterly terrible at keeping track of time, I just found out that the first anniversary of the DiMattiaFilms blog was back on February 7th, so Happy Belated Anniversary, DiMattiaFilms!! As of right now, we've hada total of 4,518 visitors to this site, and we're still growing! Thanks, everyone, for all your support!

dj BC Strikes Again

A couple of years ago, mashup master dj BC delivered The Beastles, a collection of better-than-average mashups of Beatles and Beastie Boys tunes. Now, he's back with Let It Beast, a follow-up collection of more Beastie/Beatle mashups. What I've always liked about dj BC is his rapid-fire precision in piecing the two songs together. He also has more fun with the mashup concept than most, usually throwing in random movie and TV clips for good measure (his first album sampled High Fidelity and School House Rock, to name a few). Give 'em a listen!

Yahoo on Yahoo!

Read this news article (link removed) about Cheney's recent hunting victim having a heart attack and tell me there's not something funny about it. Correction: somethings.

Check out these snippets:

• "Whittington suffered a 'silent heart attack'--obstructed blood flow, but without the classic heart-attack symptoms of pain and pressure."
  
  Oh, how I long for the days when people experienced "classic heart-attack symptoms," not all the high-tech, razzle dazzle of "silent heart attacks." What is this world coming to?
  
  
• "The doctors said they decided to treat the situation conservatively and leave the pellet alone rather than operate to remove it."
  
  I certainly hope they're treating the situation conservatively. He is a millionaire lawyer.
  
  
• "Cheney, an experienced hunter, has not spoken publicly about the accident, which took place Saturday night while the vice president was aiming for a quail. Critics of the Bush administration called for more answers from the Cheney himself."
  
  So now we're supposed to refer to him as "the Cheney"? What an egotistical maniac!

Sick in bed...

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've recently come down with a bad virus and have been bedridden for the last couple days. Is it a deadly strain of bird flu?! Only time will tell. BUCK-CAW!! Oh, shit.

Surround Sound Lips, Pt. II

The Flaming Lips have always tried their hand at pushing the boundaries of musical enjoyment, from conducting massive parking lot experiments involving hundreds of car tape decks each with a different set of music, to the release of Zaireeka, a four-CD box set designed to be played all at once. Now, the Lips have taken the liberty of re-releasing their past albums in glorious 5.1 Surround Sound.

Their first endeavor, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 5.1, was impressive, despite the fact that the US version had a flaw in it causing the last song to cut off twenty seconds early.

After that album's release, the Lips asked their fans to pick which one of their previous albums should be given the 5.1 treatment next. The fans came up with the obvious choice, 1999's The Soft Bulletin, one of my favorite albums of all-time (that's another list that I've been meaning to post on this blog).

I'm listening to it right now and, I must say, it's quite impressive. If you have a 5.1 speaker setup in your house, this is the perfect disc to try it out on. Plus, it's the Lips, so you know it's good. In addition to the complete album in 5.1 Dolby Digital format (with psychedelic visualizations for your TV), you can listen to several unreleased outtakes and radio sessions, as well as watch the music videos for "Race for the Prize" and the uncensored version of "Waitin' for a Superman." Also, like the 5.1 version of Yoshimi, the Lips include the original CD version on a separate disc. But what's interesting about The Soft Bulletin 5.1 is that while the CD contains the US version of the album, with the Mokran mixes of "Race for the Prize" and "Waitin' for a Superman," the 5.1 DVD version is the original UK sequence, without the Mokran remixes but including "Slow Motion," a song cut from the US version and replaced with "The Spiderbite Song." Luckily, I found a copy of the song in regular MP3 format and am presenting it here for your downloading pleasure:

The Flaming Lips, "Slow Motion" (right-click, Save As...)

For those who want more, here's a nice cover of the Lips song "Suddenly Everything Has Changed" by our good friends The Postal Service:

The Postal Service, "Suddenly Everything Has Changed (Flaming Lips cover)" (right-click, Save As...)

Brokeback to the Future

A hilarious new fake trailer that uses clips from all three Back to the Future films and incorporates them into a Brokeback Mountain-style plot. Enjoy!



Thanks to Stereogum.

PREVIOUSLY: The Shining gets turned into a romantic comedy.

Tuesday Tidbits

• I found another funny webcomic, the Perry Bible Fellowship. Thanks, Yewknee.
  
• They announced the Oscar nominees today. I know not many of my predictions turned out to be right. The reason I didn't include any nominations for Brokeback Mountain was because I hadn't seen it yet. Which brings me to my next tidbit...
  
• I saw Brokeback Mountain last Saturday and was pleasantly surprised. I was skeptical about this film, especially because of all the hype it had been receiving, but I see now that while it doesn't deserve a lot of the press it has been receiving, it is an impressive motion picture. This year's Best Actor race is gonna be a tough one!
  
• This week's free single on iTunes is by UK rock group The Magic Numbers, entitled "Love Me Like You Do." It's excellent, and it's free.
  
• You can now download Strong Bad e-mails for your video iPod. Or, if you don't have a video iPod (like me), you can just download the e-mails so you can watch them whenever you want on iTunes.
  
• You could buy the two new Gorillaz songs off iTunes, or you could just download them for free here. Thanks, Clever Titles.

Steve Jobs Declares He Owns Everything

Drawing from Crookie's Blog

I don't know if everyone's been following the Disney/Pixar debates, but here's the scoop. A couple years ago, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner told Pixar to shove it when they asked for more control over their films. So, Pixar decided to make the upcoming film Cars their last movie made under the Disney name and pursue another studio to do business with. Well, that's when Disney executives realized that all the money they're making off movies is thanks mostly to Pixar (and Miramax, which kicked out its creators, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, earlier last year), and they fired Eisner, replacing him with Robert Iger, who offered Steve Jobs $7 billion in Disney stock in a bid for ownership of Pixar. Jobs agreed, Pixar is now owned by Disney, and the world may be spared a Toy Story 3 and Another Bug's Life, now that Pixar's creative leader and co-founder John Lasseter will be chief creative officer of all Disney productions. Of course, this now means that Steve Jobs has a big stake in Apple Computer, Pixar Animation, and Walt Disney Studios. Let's hope his first film idea doesn't involve animated iPods.

UPDATE: It's official. Toy Story 3 is kaputz.

Hall of Awesome: The Next Five Best Albums of 2005 (and Honorable Mentions)

So...where were we?

6. eels, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations

Mark Oliver Everett (the man called "E") has always been the antithesis to popular music. While the Britneys and Justins talk about how pretty they are and how much money they have, E won't stop telling you how ugly he is and how poor he is. The video for "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)" features E simply holding a video camera because he "spent all the money making the new album." And what an album it is. Two discs, thirty-three tracks. And E has never been a musician who's valued quantity over quality. Blinking Lights owes a lot to another famous double album, The Beatles' White Album. Like that double-LP, the songs on Blinking Lights don't seem to flow from one to the other, but there is a unified sound throughout, one that is unmistakably eels-like. E continues to nurture his affection for catchy pop songs (as evidenced by his appearances on the soundtracks for both Shrek movies) by recording tunes like the ethereal "From Which I Came/A Magic World," and the bouncy aforementioned "Hey Man." He even uses his pop palette for self-parody on the laughable "Going Fetal," a dance number featuring a sample of Tom Waits crying like a baby. But its when he's somber and reflective that Blinking Lights truly shines. The instrumentals "Marie Floating Over the Backyard" and "God's Silence" are haunting in their immediacy, and the listener is left amazed that such beauty could be relegated to a simple minute-long interlude track. E reaches his apex with this sprawling album, and no stone is left unturned under his watchful eye. Bottom line: This album has something for everyone, and after multiple listens, it might prove to have more than just something.

7. The Chemical Brothers, Push the Button

The Chemical Brothers have had a long, successful career. Long because they've just released their ten-year singles compilation, and successful because they're one of only about three or four electronica acts you've probably heard of (Moby and Fatboy Slim being two more). This is all good and well except for the fact that up until now, the Brothers (Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands) had hit a snag when it came to crafting solid albums. Their recent efforts, Surrender and Come With Us had some great singles, but the albums never really felt cohesive. Flash forward to 2005 and the release of Push the Button, the album that went relatively unnoticed on most Best Of lists due to its early January release date, but the album that proves to be the Brothers best effort yet. Everything flows with an urgency seldom heard since 1997's Dig Your Own Hole, with the duo seamlessly blending the hard rock breakbeats of their early work with the atmospheric psychedelia of their later albums. The guest appearances are back, but the vocalists (like Kele Okereke of Bloc Party and frequent ChemBros guest Tim Burgess) don't distract from the music; they transcend it, making their vocals just another piece in the Chemical Brothers' electronic puzzle. Bottom line: This is the album for everyone who thought electronica had nothing new to offer and who would very much like to be proven wrong.

8. The Mars Volta, Frances the Mute

The Mars Volta is the ultimate ADD band. They blaze and howl through a mess of guitars, horns, and drums before settling into unnerving electronic beats for the better part of three minutes. Not that I'm complaining. On the contrary, Frances the Mute is one of the best prog-rock releases of 2005, even if the band refuses to call it prog-rock. Like eels (the band, not the animal), The Mars Volta takes their time and crafts four epic tracks and one single, totaling a 76-minute experience that is equal parts disturbing, exhilarating, and hard-rocking. "L'Via L'Vasquez" could've been an old Santana tune if it weren't for its creepy, Pink Floyd-esque coda. The melodies in the songs are catchy enough to merit repeated listenings, and the lyrics are cryptic enough to merit repeating musings and interpretations. Bottom line: If you like your rock albums to confound you while they astound you, this is your disc.

9. Coldplay, X&Y

In 2005, Coldplay faced a slew of criticism, the harshest coming from inside the band as lead singer Chris Martin publicly declared after the release of their third album that Coldplay was working on improving their lyrics. It shouldn't be surprising that he's so self-conscious. This is the big Third Album. They gained a cult following with Parachutes, plunged into the mainstream with A Rush of Blood to the Head, making expectations for X&Y ridiculously high. The truth of the matter is that if you've never been a big fan of Coldplay, X&Y probably won't change your mind anytime soon. For those who are, however, the rewards are plenty. X&Y is Coldplay's most cinematic, most anthemic, and also their longest album (almost twice as long as Parachutes). And while they're lyrics may not be the most brilliant, the persistent catchiness of the melodies more than make up for it. Everyone's already lovin' "Fix You," but what about the equally impressive "Swallowed in the Sea"? Coldplay might be drifting from the enclosed, ambient rock that made the bulk of their early EPs and debut album, but they've taken their unparalleled songwriting skills with them. Bottom line: There's always room for at least one mainstream album in your music collection.

10. The White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan

Okay, I'm sorry, I meant to say that there's room for two mainstream albums. But, make no mistake, the White Stripes may be selling a ton of records, but they never show it. The raw opening single "Blue Orchid" was just a bait-and-switch for the Stripes as they abruptly jump into marimba mode on the haunting "The Nurse," right before the incessantly catchy "My Doorbell" takes center stage. It's this kind of helter-skelter instrumentation that keeps Get Behind Me Satan consistently interesting and fun to listen to. The hard guitars of "Blue Orchid" rarely make a second appearance, except for the Elephant-esque "Instinct Blues," which neatly segues into the brief Meg White interlude "Passive Manipulation." Instead, mastermind Jack White ops for sparse piano, acoustic guitar, and the aforementioned marimbas. Surprisingly, the best tracks are pushed to the back of the album, like "As Ugly as I Seem," a self-conscious guitar track that wouldn't feel out of place on Rubber Soul, and "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)," a beautiful, piano-laden ballad that neatly rounds out this exceptional release by the most consistent act in lo-fi indie rock. Bottom line: The perfect album for those that like their music raw and rugged.

Honorable Mentions:
Ben Folds, Songs for Silverman
Bright Eyes, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
DangerDoom, The Mouse and the Mask
Gorillaz, Demon Days
Hot Hot Heat, Elevator
Josh Rouse, Nashville
Kanye West, Late Registration
Robbers on High Street, Tree City
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Jacksonville City Nights
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Broom
Stars, Set Yourself on Fire
System of a Down, Mesmerize/Hypnotize
The Go! Team, Thunder, Lightning, Strike
The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
Thievery Corporation, The Cosmic Game
Z-Trip, Shifting Gears

Alright, that's it! I'm finally finished with my Top 10 Albums list! Look for the Best Movies of 2005 coming soon!

Drawn to Pup

Once again, leave it to Drawn! to point out the coolest web-comics. This one's called "Pup Ponders the Heat Death of the Universe" by the very-talented Drew Weing. See more Pup comics here and more of his other comics here.

Thursday Tidbits

• I saw Me and You and Everyone We Know today and I just might have to add it to my Best Movies of 2005 list (date of release still pending). It makes sense that its writer/director/star Miranda July used to be a performance artist. "Quirky" can't even begin to describe this wonderfully bizarre slice-of-life movie.
  
• Chalk this one down for News of the Weird. A man broke into the home of a caricaturist and, fifteen minutes later, the police captured the thief based on a drawing the artist had made for the cops.
  
• Flickr turns two on February 10, six days before I turn 20. Here are some cool photos I wouldn't have found if it weren't for Flickr.

Tokyo gone plastic

I can't stop singing the praises of Tokyo Plastic, one of the coolest ad agencies/Flash animators on the web. Not only have they made bizarre and beautiful ads for Mitsubishi, MTV, and MSN, but their website is a work of art all by itself, and also contains the award-winning Flash short "Drum Machine." Also, check out their other kick-ass shorts "Opera Dude" and "Music Box."

More Photos!

New Hanover Marching Band
Originally uploaded by devpd.

I don't know when I'll ever be able to finish the Hall of Awesome. So here's another cop-out: a bunch of photos I took recently during the annual Martin Luther King Day Parade in downtown Wilmington. My friend Adam told me that he'd be attending, dressed up as the pelican mascot for Wave, the city's transit system.

First off, I didn't know our bus system even had a mascot. Second, I also didn't know that we had a parade on MLK Day. So Nathan, Caroline, Merri and I went to check it out and had a great time. You can see my set of pics here.

Sorry for the lack of updates...

Don't worry; I haven't died. I've just returned to college and have yet to get back in the swing of things. I promise I'll have finally completed the Hall of Awesome by debuting the next five best albums of 2005 as well as the best movies of 2005. Just not right now.

In the meantime, how about them Panthers?? Whoo-hoo!

Box Office Briefing

I find it most amusing that Hostel is the number one movie at the box office this weekend, followed by (ha-ha!) The Chronicles of Narnia. Isn't that wonderfully American? The happy and warm Christian family flick getting beat by the vicious, just-barely-R-rated horror film? I think so.

Anyhoo, I saw The Producers last week with my girlfriend and we both thought that it was one of the funniest films of the year. While the opening scenes had Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick trying a little too hard to be like Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder (the stars of the original film), things picked up a lot after Matthew Broderick did his big number, "I Wanna Be a Producer." It sure is nice to see that old stalwart genre, the Hollywood musical, finally get into the spotlight again. After the runaway success of Moulin Rouge and Chicago, there haven't been all that many other musicals that have sparked anyone's interests. I hope The Producers will change all that. Also, if you go see it, stick around 'till the end of the credits.

I'm also on my way out the door to see The Squid and the Whale, the new film from the co-writer of The Life Aquatic, Noah Baumbach. It made #7 on my list of the best reviewed films of 2005. I'll let you know how that goes.

New Song Added to 15 Megs of Fame

You can download my newest track, "Running Away From Your Problems (Never Solved Them)," by clicking here! Please rate it and/or post a comment! Also, check out my other songs on 15 Megs of Fame. And if that's not enough, download my cover of Massive Attack's "Teardrop"!

Hall of Awesome: Top 5 Albums of 2005

It's that moment you've all been waiting for, where I reveal my top 10 album picks of 2005! This also marks the end of the First Annual DiMattiaFilms Hall of Awesome. I hope everyone had as much fun reading these as I did writing them. So, without further ado, let's begin!

1. Devin Davis, Lonely People of the World, Unite!

I don't care if anyone thinks I'm bias for putting a musician whose name is the same as mine at number one. This guy is the real deal. Lonely People of the World, Unite! flows in a way I have rarely heard albums flow before. Every single aspect of this album, from writing to production to instrumentation, is stellar. Lead track "Iron Woman" begins at breakneck speed, with a sense of immediacy rarely heard on an indie rock album. And Davis' driving force never slows down as the album races through ten more songs, each one just as good as the last. His voice may not be as good as those of his contemporaries, but he delivers each vocal track with a wail and a yelp, as if he's betting all he's got on these eleven tracks (which he probably has). Bottom line: This is the record for those who wish bands would just get to the point and stop peppering their albums with pointless filler.

2. The Decemberists, Picaresque

One of the most imaginative albums of the year, The Decemberists pull the ideas for their songs right out of a long-lost Alexandre Dumas novel. Whether they're telling stories of a daydreaming young Indian princess ("The Infanta") or of a pair of shipmates in a giant whale's stomach ("The Mariner's Revenge Song"), you can be assured that The Decemberists will tell it to you in riveting detail using words you've never heard used in songs before. They are also well-experienced in setting the mood. There's the upbeat pomp of the political jab "16 Military Wives," the winner of Catchiest Political Song of 2005, the solemn bass drum of "From My Own True Love (Lost at Sea)," and the highway-chasing acoustic guitars of "The Engine Driver." There's no doubt that if The Decemberists had existed in the 18th century, they would be singing the same songs that they're singing now. Thankfully, they weren't, so you don't have to travel far-and-wide to listen to their well-weathered sound. Bottom line: This is the album for people who are sick and tired of "Yeah, yeah, since you been gone" passing as song lyrics.

3. Sufjan Stevens, Come On Feel the Illinoise!

What can I say about Sufjan Stevens that hasn't already been said by every single weblog in existence? When he's not coming up with paragraph-length song titles, he's crafting some of the most beautiful and well-orchestrated indie rock ever made. Even though his 50-state project may ultimately end up too daunting to be completed, at least Illinois will be around for our listening pleasure. Bottom line: This is the best album about Illinois to come out in 2005. It's also pretty damn good in every other aspect, too.

4. Oasis, Don't Believe the Truth

Up until now, every artist on this list has been new to my ears. Leave it to Oasis to deliver a blast from the past while staying just as relevant and just as groundbreaking. After the stumble-and-fall of their previous two albums, they find their footing and release Don't Believe the Truth, one of the best albums of their career. Listening to these eleven amazing songs, it's almost like nothing happened between this album and their previous masterpiece, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. Their guitars blaze, the drums (by Ringo Starr's son, Zak) are triumphant, and Noel and Liam trade off vocals with relative ease. Bottom line: This is the 2005 album for those who want to party like it's 1995.

5. Andrew Bird, The Mysterious Production of Eggs

Andrew Bird has always been the diamond in the rough as far as musical talent was concerned. He added a dark and seductive touch to any Squirrel Nut Zippers song he was invited to perform violin on. His own band, Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, also released wildly varying albums, the best of which was 2001's The Swimming Hour. Now, he's on his own and after releasing a sweeping EP, Weather Systems, he's ready to blow our minds with the Nick Drake-meets-prog-rock opus The Mysterious Production of Eggs. None of his brilliantly-crafted tunes follows any sort of traditional structure. Just when you think you've figured out the melody of a certain song, he pulls the melodic carpet out from under you. He also makes use of his large vocabulary, crafting stories like the one in "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left," about the destruction of the world because of a neglected tanker filled with HAZMAT...I think. Bottom line: This is the "fine wine" album, one that's bitter upon first taste, but proves its worth with every repeated listen.

(GASP!) It took me forever just to write those five reviews, so I'll take a breather and post the next five later.

Catbird Records, with the DiMattiaFilms 200% Quality Guarantee!

As many of my frequent readers know, I am a huge fan of Catbird Records, the extremely indie record label created by Ryan of The Catbirdseat music blog. Well, he's just added two new releases to the Catbird Records lineup, Get Him Eat Him's Do As I Tell You EP, which is out now, and Hemstead's Untitled, which will be released next month. As always, they are very limited editions and are also very, very cheap, and the music kicks ass, so what're you waiting for? Some MP3s? Oh, okay, I have some...

MP3s: (right-click, save as)
Get Him Eat Him, "Exposure"
Hemstad, "Fyllekärring (Demo)"
Hemstad, "Sommar i Göteborg (Demo)"

Top 50 Music Videos of 2005

I have figured out where I am going to spend the rest of my Internet time for the next few weeks, and that's gonna be at DoCopenhagen's list of the Top 50 Music Videos of 2005. Not only does he show screencaps of all the videos, but he is gracious enough to include links to every single one of them, providing hours of music video satisfaction. His pick for #1, the Aphex Twin/Chris Cunningham collaboration "Rubber Johnny," is one of the most disturbing and mind-blowing things ever put on video.

Best Reviewed Films of 2005

Before I start listing my picks for the best movies of 2005, here are the top 20 best reviewed films of 2005, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Now, their complete list includes any film with 20 or more reviewers, but I've condensed that list down to movies with 100 or more reviewers, simply because out of all the films on their list, only about 20 or 30% are films that have received a wide release. Also, please note that three of the top five films are documentaries. Just an interesting sidenote.

So, without further ado:

1. Murderball
   
2. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
   
3. Good Night, and Good Luck
   
4. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
   
5. March of the Penguins
   
6. The Squid and the Whale
   
7. Grizzly Man
   
8. Capote
   
9. Downfall
   
10. Kung Fu Hustle
    
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
    
12. Millions
    
13. Brokeback Mountain
    
14. A History of Violence
    
15. Broken Flowers
    
16. Pride and Prejudice
    
17. Howl's Moving Castle
    
18. Gunner Palace
    
19. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
    
20. Junebug

A Closer Look at the Movies of 2006

Just went through Apple's movie trailer database and unearthed some promising upcoming films. Among my favorites is the trailer for Thank You For Smoking, a satire about the tobacco industry. Also of interest is American Dreamz, another vicious satire of both the President and reality television. One of the more cryptic entries is the Kubrick-esque trailer for Bubble, a new film by Steven Soderbergh about the murder of a doll factory employee. Of course, the teaser trailer for Mel Gibson's new film Apocalypto looks interesting. Also worth mentioning is Marie Antoinette, the new film by Sofia Coppola starring Kirsten Dunst in the title role, along with Jason Schwartzman.

And then there's the trailers for upcoming computer animated features: DreamWorks is turning the popular comic strip Over the Hedge into a movie, The Weinstein Company is going to take a stab at fairytales a la Shrek with their Red Riding Hood parody Hoodwinked, and Nickelodeon is jumping on the CGI bandwagon with their film Barnyard. And then, of course, there's Cars, which will undoubtedly crush the competition because Pixar is God and you dare not challenge them!

If you've seen an interesting movie trailer recently, post a link to it in the comments! I'm always on the lookout for interesting and bizarre new films!

Hall of Awesome: Best Songs of 2005 Mixtape!

It's hard to pick your favorite albums of 2005. There are so many out there, most of which are excellent, but some are simply better than others. So, to give a second chance to the albums that didn't make the final cut, I've decided to cull one song from each to include in my Best Songs of 2005 Mixtape! These are not listed in order of preference, just the order in which they sound best in mixtape form. You can download the entire ZIP file (broadband connections preferred; it's over 70 MB) by clicking the YouSendIt link at the bottom of this post. Here's the tracklisting (along with brief reviews for select songs):

1. Bloc Party, "Like Eating Glass"
2. The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, "Concerning Lessons Learned from the Aliens"

I'll admit; the long-winded titles this band uses are ridiculous, but this song is a great one. Recommended by Funtime Ben over at Tracks Up the Tree, Prayers and Tears is a one-man band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and while the rest of the album (aptly titled The Mother of Love Emulates the Shape of Cynthia) doesn't hold up as well as this song, it's still an interesting listen.

3. Spoon, "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine"
4. United State of Electronica, "It Is On!"
5. Ben Folds, "Jesusland"
6. Bright Eyes, "Another Travelin' Song"
7. Death Cab for Cutie, "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"
8. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, "Oregon Girl"

Recipient of DiMattiaFilms' Band of the Year Award

9. Rogue Wave, "California"
10. Franz Ferdinand, "Eleanor Put Your Boots On"
11. Gorillaz feat. De La Soul, "Feel Good Inc."
12. Robbers on High Street, "Spanish Teeth"
13. Embrace, "Gravity"

The best song Coldplay wrote in 2005 wasn't sung by them. In fact, they wrote this song for Brit-rockers Embrace, whom Coldplay had toured with in the past. Look for Coldplay's version to appear on the upcoming single for "Talk."

14. The Soundtrack of Our Lives, "Transcendental Suicide"

Not much stood out on TSOOL's Origin Vol. I, their follow-up album to 2003's astounding Behind the Music. Not much except for this killer six-minute rock opus.

15. Imogen Heap, "Hide and Seek"
BONUS TRACK: Z-Trip feat. Supernatural and Murs, "Breakfast Club"

DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE SHEBANG HERE! Once again, the link's expired. Plus, I've thrown away the original ZIP file. You'll just have to wait until I release the Best Songs of 2006 mixtape, I guess.